Islam's Heart On St.Valentine's Day

 

"Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority will be part of an axis of evil which starts in Iran, passes through Syria and Hezbollah and reaches Hamas and every state that contains Islamic terror organizations," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo today.

Mubarak seems to agree, and has voiced that he is supporting Israel's demand that Hamas disarms. Mofaz said that as of the swearing in ceremony of Hamas members to the Palestinian parliament this Saturday, the relationship between the PA and Israel is expected to change.Meanwhile our

Thug-In-Chief Ahmadinejad, the aspiring leader of the Muslim world, is spreading some more love on St. Valentine's Day:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "The affront to the honor of the Prophet of Islam is in fact an affront to the worship of God, and to the seeking of truth and justice, and an affront to all the prophets of God. Obviously, all those who harm the honor of the prophet of Islam..."

Crowd: "Death to Denmark. Death to Denmark. Death to Denmark. Death to Denmark."
[...]

Ahmadinejad: "As the representative of the great Iranian people, I call upon all free people of the world - Christians and Jews - to rise together with the Muslims and not to let a handful of shameless Zionists, who have been defeated in Palestine, to harm the sanctity of the prophets.

"I call upon them not to let a few weak governments - which owe their rise to power to the support of the Zionists - support them in this ugly manner.

"As I have said before, as far as several aggressive European governments are concerned, and as far as the Great Satan [the U.S.] is concerned, it is permissible to harm the honor of the divine prophets, but it is a crime to ask questions about the myth of the Holocaust, and about how the false regime occupying Palestine came into being.

"On the basis of this myth, the pillaging Zionist regime has managed, for 60 years, to extort all Western governments and to justify its crimes in the occupied lands - killing women and children, demolishing homes, and turning defenseless people into refugees.

"When we protest to the [Europeans], they say: 'There is freedom in our country.' They are lying when they claim they have freedom. They are hostages in the hands of the Zionists. The people of Europe and America are the ones that should be paying the heavy price of this hostage-taking.

"How come it is allowed to harm the honor of the prophets in your country, but it is forbidden to research the myth of the Holocaust? You are a bunch of tyrants, who are dependent upon the Zionists and who are held hostage by them."

Well I hope he indeed does think we are a bunch of tyrants, but I doubt even that will deter this madman. It would be absolutely fine if he was sitting in a lunatic asylum talking to some keenly attuned inmates. He is not however, he is leading an entire nation, and influencing some relatively able 1.5 bil people.

Americans are nervous about Iran. according to a CNN poll. I wonder why?

A senior commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) vowed that following the printing of insulting cartoons of Islam’s prophet Muhammad in European dailies, the Islamic Republic’s suicide volunteers abroad were being placed on readiness alert to attack United States and Israeli interests.

From Scott Johnson @ Powerline:

The invaluable MEMRI observes that in view of the recent victory of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Palestinian Authority Legislative Council elections, it is important to make the Hamas covenant available on English for English speaking readers. MEMRI states that the English version which is currently posted in a number of websites is not satisfactory, and therefore MEMRI is providing here a closer, more accurate translation. MEMRI has therefore posted "The covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement -- Hamas."

A reading of the covenant demonstrates that Hamas exists for two purposes alone: 1) to eliminate the state of Israel, and 2) to replace it with an Islamic state. These purposes are apparent in every article of the charter, though in some more concisely than others.

–

Discussion:

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:   Playing Hardball With Hamas

Mark / Decision '08:   Democracy?  —  This sounds a little shaky to me:

Gary Farber / Amygdala:   THE SKINNY ON AL-JAZEERA is offered in Marc Lynch's, aka …

Kevin Hayden / The American Street:   What today's news headlines ought to say

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:   U.S. and Israelis Discuss Hamas Regime Change

Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:   HAMAS AND THE WEST....I'm confused.  The New York Times …

Marc Schulman / AMERICAN FUTURE:   The New York Times Strikes Again

Eric Umansky:   LET FREEDOM REIGN (PART MCMV)

Steve / THE NEWS BLOG:   Turning the wheel backwardsvbn

Meanwhile the United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats. Good luck I say, it will take a lot more than words to disarm Hamas, metaphorically and literally.

The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement.

Ed Morrissey:

But let's assume it works the way State hopes. Even if it led to Fatah's resurgence, why would that cause Fatah to be "chastened"? What lesson would Fatah have learned -- that they can rip off their people by embezzling the aid we provide, allow their own lunatics to continue their terrorist attacks on Israel, and still get Western support to push them back into power? Well, that's a great strategy. Let's reward both terrorism and corruption!
 
  The best approach is to cut off the Palestinians completely and make it clear that the West washes its hands of them until they grow up and elect responsible leadership. Until the Palestinians insist on having political choices between Terrorist A and Terrorist B, they provide no reason to continue engagement.

IMPORTANT UPDATE BULLETIN From my friends @ Vital Perspective:

The White House, State Department, and the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. have denied a story in Tuesday's New York Times that was based upon statements from anonymous sources. Steven Erlanger wrote that "the United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again."

When Danish embassies began going up in flames last week, some in the European Union wanted a firm response. But nothing happened. The most the EU could agree on were a few wishy-washy statements.

Ever since a Danish newspaper published 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and triggered sometimes violent protests against Denmark and the West in the Muslim world, the European Union has been casting about for a common position. So far, though, without success -- and as the EU lack of action on the issue becomes more and more obvious, the realization grows that the 25-member European club has let a golden opportunity slip through its fingers. For years, Europe has repeated the mantra that real international relevance will only come with the development of a common foreign and security policy. The problem, though, has been that whenever difficult decisions need to be made, EU members can't agree. Like right now.

The idea last week -- given that European embassies were being set alight in a number of Muslim countries -- to call a meeting of all European foreign ministers, or even heads of government, was chucked out. Too dangerous was the verdict. On the one hand, there was nothing even approaching unanimity among EU members as to where they stood on the conflict between freedom of the press and respect for religious sensibilities. On the other hand, it was felt, such a meeting had the distinct risk of further inflaming Muslim passions.

Instead, Europe retreated into the safe harbor of soothing platitudes. "Violence is unacceptable" quickly became a favorite. Or: "We stand by our Danish friends but we also have understanding for the hurt feelings of the Muslims." The media was likewise quick to come around and began calling for restraint on all sides to avoid more violence. But such banalities did little to satisfy the European public -- nor did they go far in calming the violent demonstrations in the Middle East. On the contrary: EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had hardly issued his half-hearted warning to Iran not to boycott Danish products before Iran ostentatiously broke off all trade relations with the Scandinavian country.

And the even as the European Union, the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference called for calm and prudence, the protests continued to spread. In Lebanon and Iraq, in Pakistan and Indian Kashmir, in Indonesia and Iran, tens of thousands of demonstrators burned flags, cars and buildings. Even Brussels hosted a march and in London, thousands joined a throng calling for Christians to be "beheaded."

But instead of reacting responsibly but confidently -- and without kowtowing to Mecca -- Europe went on the defensive and showed little in the way of solidarity. A boycott against Denmark, Mandelson said, is a boycott against the rest of Europe. Would that it were. In reality, the rest of Europe is ecstatic that only Denmark is affected.

The Swiss company Nestlé, for example, made sure to point out to its Middle East customers that it didn't use milk from Danish cows in the manufacture of its products. Similarly, an Egyptian branch of the French supermarket chain Carrefour cleared Danish products from its shelves and posted a sign to its "dear clients" reading: "We express solidarity with the Islamic & Egyptian community. Carrefour don't carry Danish products."

Europe's commitment to such fundamental principles as freedom of opinion and the press likewise seems a bit shaky these days. A resolution that the European Parliament intends to pass this week recognizes the value of these rights. But it has to be paired with "responsibility" and a "respect for religious sensibilities." Unfortunately, the Danish caricatures, the resolution says, crossed the line.

Even French President Jacques Chirac -- head of a country which plays host to 6 million Muslim citizens -- suddenly sounded like a spokesman for the religious of the world. Reprinting the caricatures in a French satirical paper was a "provocation," Chirac said.

There were some voices on the other end of the spectrum. The Italian right called for a crusade. Roberto Calderoli, a minister in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's cabinet, called in all seriousness for Pope Benedict XVI to lead the Christian world against the "threat of Islam" just has his predecessors did in the 16th and 17th centuries. Just as a major reaction was necessary then to beat back the Turks from the gates of Vienna, Calderoli said, counter-measures are necessary.

Calderoli didn't have to wait long for a response. "Berlusconi must fire his minister and ask Islam for forgiveness," demanded Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Otherwise, al-Gadhafi threatened, "Libya, the Arabic world, and Islam would be forced to react."

Dr Sanity:

Enough.

Europe will wake up and either change so they can respond to the latest manifestation of totalitarian tyranny; or it will doom its people to even more misery and death than they suffered in the last century

Victor Davis Hanson:

Do the Europeans sense that the more open, free-wheeling and non-judgmental the culture, the more it is hated by the jihadists? If Europe as a whole is more pro-Palestinian than the United States, disapproved of Iraq, and yet is still hated as much, is magnanimity at last exposed as appeasement—earning only contempt from an emboldened enemy?

Don’t look, however, for any overt expression of alarm. It is too much to ask of the European Union for now to go on the record supporting the right of Danish free expression or to demand an embargo of Iran as it approaches nuclear autonomy. Instead, expect the European reaction to be far more subtle: the same old public utopian rhetoric, but in the shadows a newfound desire to galvanize against the threat of Islamic fascism.

And The Cartoon Jihad continues.

Daniel Pipes is pessimistic:

What are the long-term consequences of the Muhammad cartoon furor? I predict it is helping bring on not a clash of civilizations but their mutual pulling apart. This separation, which has been building for years, has dreadful implications.

Signs of disengagement are all around.
[...]
Disengagement will only worsen the Muslim predicament. Reduced contact with the world's most modern, powerful, and advanced countries would likely cause Muslims to do even worse in those indexes and lapse deeper into a condition characterized by self-pity, jealousy, resentment, anger, and aggression.

Especially when contrasted with Muslim successes in pre-modern times, these traumatic circumstances help explain the crisis in identity that often causes Muslims to seek solace in radical Islam. For everyone's sake, it is important that Muslims begin more successfully to negotiate their path to modernity, not to isolation.

John Stephenson reminds us that St. Valentine was an enemy of Islam, and  they have  been advised not to celebrate it. Quelle surprise! Emperor Darth Misha calls it a fatwah on St. Valentine.

QUICK UPDATE:  Eteraz, who reads my blog, (and who has Glenn Greenwald on his blogroll which makes me immediately think he's ok. Heh.) points out that "the 'fatwa' about avoiding valentine's day was given in some tiny hamlet in malaysia, which makes one think: who cares, second, it is under the auspices of sufis, and sufis are not islamists, as a matter of fact, they are its opposite, they are like the weird hippies of islam, who get made fun of, but are actually the biggest opponents of wahhabis out there."

The Anchoress has a great Valentine's Day round up in the Blogosphere, and the talented blogger Fausta tells us to "accessorize. accessorize". I really love that blog, be sure to make it your daily read.

Memeorandum features my post here.

For those of you who simply want to chill today, the talented blogger Mary Katherine Ham @ Hugh Hewitt has some suggestions:

The National Review did a couple of cute symposiums. Yeah, that's right. The National Review is cute best conservative love stories of all time.

Then, they've got "Women We Love," in which conservative men dish about the intellectual, philosophical stand-outs that make their little Hayekian hearts pound.

Then we've got "Men We Love."

More @ Roger L. Simon, California Conservative here and here, Stop The ACLU,Decision '08, Vital Perspective, lgf, Atlas Shrugs, Right Wing News, The American Street, Outside The Beltway,  Gateway Pundit, The Washington Monthly, American Future, The News Blog, Blue Star Chronicles, Publius Rendezvous, Eric Umansky,   

Comments

[eteraz]

Alexandra,

Just saw the update. Heh to Greenwald: that's whose blog I came to yours from.

Anyway, would love to stick around and chat but work beckons. I did send you an email of interest.

See you for now.

[eteraz]

Thanks.

I do like the picture though.

[Alexandra]

Eteraz,

The TrackBack has gone through.
I'll put your comment into the main text next to the Anti Idiotarian Rottweiler link for the fatwa story.
Btw just read your piece, I hope I am not one of the pundits you'd like to grab by the collar, although I surely am likely to be. Just no fatwas O.K? LOL!

[eteraz]

speaking of links, alexandra: i linked to this post on my blog, but i don't think it pinged?

anyway, i wanted to say that the 'fatwa' about avoiding valentine's day was given in some tiny hamlet in malaysia.

which makes one think: who cares.

second, it is under the auspices of sufis.

sufis are not islamists.

as a matter of fact, they are its opposite.

they are like the weird hippies of islam, who get made fun of, but are actually the biggest opponents of wahhabis out there.

[Alexandra]

Gary,
No, I don't have an idea.

[Fausta]

Than there's the question of the timing vis-a-vis the upcoming UN Security Council presidency for 2005-2006 here

[RL]

MADARJENDEYEH PEDARSAG

Farsi for mullah.

[Gary Farber]

Somewhat oddly, Technorati shows a link from this post to this post of mine, but I don't see such a link here. (I've added an addendum to my post noting my puzzlement.)

It may just be a Technorati glitch of some sort. Do you have any idea as to why Technorati says there's a link here?

[eteraz]

speaking of iran

http://eteraz.wordpress.com/2006/02/14/suicide-intellect-who-legitimized-suicide-in-islam-by-ali-eteraz/

[eteraz]

farsi for protest

urdu for objection

[RL]

eteraz: Farsi for "objection".

answering-islam.org

[eteraz]

there is plenty of changes going on in the muslim world. its not our fault you are blind to it and don't visit our blogs. keep in your little circle of muslim-fear-mongering, "oh-what-is-the-future-of-the-west" cliques and leave the voices of sarcastic sanity outside.

http://eteraz.wordpress.com/2006/02/05/a-rhyming-history-of-crusades-and-terror/

http://eteraz.wordpress.com/2006/01/29/the-despair-of-ali-eteraz/

[North by Northwest]

Disengagement will only worsen the Muslim predicament.

Daniel Pipes makes a very important point. But the changes have to come from whithin the Muslim communities, and there is simply no sign that that is going to happen any time soon.

[RL]

a NY times story that was based on anonymous
"sources", mon Dieu !

how very Jayson Blairesque of these washed-up
pseudo-"journalists".

Quelle surprise indeed ! : )

as far as the evil islamoterrorist organization
named hamas being in control of Gaza, and
hezbollah being in total-control of hezbollahland
(ie. southern-Lebanon), Quel Horreur !!

especially as far as peace-loving Israeli citizens
are concerned.

this islamoterrorist republic of Iran financed,
organized, and sharia-religion led potential
shiite caliphate is a nightmare, and realistic
scenario that is being played-out, all-over
al-jazeera, right before our eyes.

the biggest mistake that we could make at this
juncture, is to pull-out of Iraq too hastily;
becaust the evil islamoterrorist monsters who are
in charge of the IRI are just waiting to take-over
the power-vacuum that we would leave behind.
they(IRI) have been planning and organizing for
over twenty years to take-over Iraq; one of the
"holiest-sites" in Iran's shiite-religion is
Karballah(Iraq), and they send many thousands
of pilgrims over-there on a perennial basis.
they already have a stronghold in southern-Iraq,
with its majority shiite population, and taking
over the entire country would be an actualization
of one of their biggest dreams, and the first
big-step in establishing their demonic-caliphate
in the cradle of civilization.

i wish that diplomacy or a coup d'etat from within
would work, but realistically, it looks like
the ayatollahs in the IRI will be getting a
devastating visit from some stealthy military
aircraft(bombers) and advanced missiles sometime
in April, or early May. i hope that it doesn't
come down to the "military option" as a last
resort to destroy the islamic atomic-bomb ambitions
of the ayatollahs; but if it does, i hope that
our Armed Forces truly go out of their way in order
to totally-minimize collateral damage in the IRI.

Also, don't be surprised if the genocidal thug-
in-chief is "liquidated" from within the current
evil regime(ie. by "supreme leader" ayatollah
khamenei and his partner in crime ayatollah
rafsanjani), and his "mysterious assasination"
blamed on "the great satan" and the "Zionists".
this realisitic possiblity would be a big dose
of "opium for the masses", and useful in rallying
them behind the regime's atomic ambitions.
the thug-in-chief is nothing more than a useful
pawn in the ayatollahs' global chess match.
they will eliminate him when they are finished
with using this piece of trash from the southside
of Tehran. the latest word on the Persian street
is that despite all of his infamous demagoguery
and repeated-habit of trying to relate to the
ordinary man on the street, the thug-in-chief
has "left-behind" his modest apartment in the
southside of Tehran, and moved into a rather
large and luxurious villa in northern Tehran
(Niavaran neighborhood) among his ayatollah
handlers and case-managers' luxurious mega-villas.

Quelle surprise !
(Hardly)

kosteniuk.com
(the ayatollahs in the IRI are almost
as much of a chess-genius as she is.
the big problem for the civilized world is
that they are evil-geniuses; Alexandra K. isn't !)

: )

[Bottom Buzzer]

Hello! This is a excellent blog! But my english is poor, so excuse my limitations.

In the first place I was strongly against the printing of the twelve cartoons in the newspapers, since it had absolutely nothing to do with the protection of the freedom of speech. It was a stupid move.

But I now believe it's necessary to print these cartoons because of the violent reactions, the lack of forgiveness from the Muslim leaders in the Middle East who rather take advantage of the situation for their own purposes, and the fact that the conflict actually was sparked by the Danish mullah Abu Laban. I don't want these religious dictators to affect the Norwegian or European freedom of speech.

I have published one of the twelve cartoons myself, but the drawing is of cause NOT an image of YOUR Mohammad if you are a muslim, unless you are one of them who support violence. I have talked to many Arab Muslims who are not offended by the cartoons, since it's not THEIR Prophet. But the man with the bomb in the turban is a excellent description of Abu Labans and Osama bin Ladens Prophet. That's obvious!

I've made a manipulation of the Danish Imam Abu Laban on my blog, but I guess he doesn't mind since he is into that kind of business him self. Hehe...

Bless!

[RL]

The USA gave the PA $500 million last year; the EU gave the
PA $600 million last year. What happened to all of this money ?
Would somebody please contact arafart's wife Sooha in gay
pareee, and please ask her to try to tone-down her
Cristal champagne and Iranian Caviar lifestyle in the
Champs Elysees, while her "fellow Palestinians" are starving
to death in Gaza ? i mean, how many Chanel and Christian Dior
dresses does Mrs. arafart need in her 3,000 sq. ft. walk in
closet, while Palestinian girls and boys die from malnutrition
and other totally-treatable(with common medecines) diseases ?
Can't she go on for just one day without having to drink
Cristal and eat half a kilo of Iranian caviar ?

Alexandra, as somebody who has spent thousands of dollars
with the carrefour chain, i will never spend another centime
with this cowardly and disgusting french company.
CAP-3000 in St. Laurent du Var will be getting my business
from now on !

buydanish.home.comcast.net/

Can't we all just get along ? Have some Havarti !

God Bless Prime Minister Rasmussen and the Armed Forces
of Denmark.

: )