http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/04/24/209978.html
Nadarkhani, who has been charged with apostasy and sentenced to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, receives support from Jones through his organization, Stand Up America Now.
There are also worries that Jones’ behavior could be used as insurgent propaganda if the pastor burns copies of the Quran again.
“Islam doesn’t allow us to dishonor the Christian holy book, so it is the job of Christians to respect the holy Quran as well,” Jamshed Hashimi, a 45-year-old teacher at one of the private universities of Kabul, told the newspaper.
“It is the job of the Americans to stop this person, otherwise the militants, the insurgents will use this opportunity and the people will help them,” he added.
U.S. pastor to burn Qurans, Prophet ‘images’ if Christian cleric executed
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
U.S. pastor Terry Jones, a self-professed scourge of Islam, has threatened to “burn Qurans and images of Prophet Mohammed” if a Christian religious leader in Iran is not released from jail, he announced on his organization’s website this week.Jones has set a deadline of 5 p.m. on Saturday April 28 for the release of Iranian pastor Youcef Nadakhani otherwise he warned of a repeat of last year’s Quran burning which led to widespread rioting and deaths around the world.
Nadarkhani, who has been charged with apostasy and sentenced to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, receives support from Jones through his organization, Stand Up America Now.
“The time of doing nothing must come to an end. We call citizens around the world to burn Qurans and images of Mohammed publicly if Pastor Youcef is executed and not released!” a statement on the site said. It is unclear which images of the Prophet (pbuh) the statement referred to.
“Even the actual thought that someone could possibly be executed, imprisoned, just simply because of what he believes is totally barbaric … Again, another example of the radical element of Islam, and its unbelievable violations of human rights, and freedom of speech.,” it added.
In March last year, Jones burned a Quran on the grounds of his church in Florida which prompted attacks on a U.N. compound in Afghanistan where seven people died.
When asked about the cost in terms of the lives lost in his previous escapade, Jones told the Guardian that the impact of his Quran burning was not his responsibility.
“What happened last time and what could happen this time is not our responsibility. All we did was burn a book. It posed no threat to anyone else, yet riots broke out several thousand miles away – which just proves how extreme Islam is.”
He threatened to burn more books on last year’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks but after international outrage, the burnings never took place.
The Pentagon is urging restraint after the Florida pastor announced his threats.“We are aware of Pastor Terry Jones’ threat to burn a Quran, and are monitoring the situation,” Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Speaks told the Guardian. “The last time Pastor Jones burned a Quran, back in March of 2011, more than 16 people died and more than 90 people were injured from the resulting protests. We hope Pastor Jones will take into account the safety and welfare of deployed U.S. military personnel before engaging in such an activity again.”
“Even the actual thought that someone could possibly be executed, imprisoned, just simply because of what he believes is totally barbaric … Again, another example of the radical element of Islam, and its unbelievable violations of human rights, and freedom of speech.,” it added.
In March last year, Jones burned a Quran on the grounds of his church in Florida which prompted attacks on a U.N. compound in Afghanistan where seven people died.
When asked about the cost in terms of the lives lost in his previous escapade, Jones told the Guardian that the impact of his Quran burning was not his responsibility.
“What happened last time and what could happen this time is not our responsibility. All we did was burn a book. It posed no threat to anyone else, yet riots broke out several thousand miles away – which just proves how extreme Islam is.”
He threatened to burn more books on last year’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks but after international outrage, the burnings never took place.
The Pentagon is urging restraint after the Florida pastor announced his threats.“We are aware of Pastor Terry Jones’ threat to burn a Quran, and are monitoring the situation,” Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Speaks told the Guardian. “The last time Pastor Jones burned a Quran, back in March of 2011, more than 16 people died and more than 90 people were injured from the resulting protests. We hope Pastor Jones will take into account the safety and welfare of deployed U.S. military personnel before engaging in such an activity again.”
There are also worries that Jones’ behavior could be used as insurgent propaganda if the pastor burns copies of the Quran again.
“Islam doesn’t allow us to dishonor the Christian holy book, so it is the job of Christians to respect the holy Quran as well,” Jamshed Hashimi, a 45-year-old teacher at one of the private universities of Kabul, told the newspaper.
“It is the job of the Americans to stop this person, otherwise the militants, the insurgents will use this opportunity and the people will help them,” he added.
and might any such action by Pastor Jones impact the upcoming French and Greek elections by fanning the anti-immigration and security fears against islamists.......
http://www.france24.com/en/20120425-foreigner-right-vote-sarkozy-shifts-hollande-digs-national-front
With the first round of voting in French presidential elections over and the second round just over a week away, the question of whether foreign residents should have the right to vote in local elections has surfaced as a potentially influential campaign issue.
Under current law, EU citizens can vote in local elections, but Socialist challenger François Hollande has proposed extending that right to non-EU residents of France.
Current centre-right President Nicolas Sarkozy is trying to emphasise Socialist challenger François Hollande’s proposal in order to turn far-right immigrant-wary National Front voters against him. The 18 percent of the French electorate that cast their ballots forMarine Le Pen are indeed now up for grabs as the president and his rival approach what could be a close runoff vote on 6 May.
Some of Sarkozy’s surrogates, including his campaign spokesperson Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and his Union for a Popular Movement party leader Jean-François Copé, have attacked Hollande and his Socialist party for his stance on the issue.
In a televised debate Monday night, 2007 Socialist presidential candidate and Hollande’s former partner Ségolène Royal, specified that foreigners’ voting rights were “not a priority” for Socialists. But wary of appearing inconsistent at the most crucial point of his presidential run, Hollande swiftly sought to reaffirm his support of a measure that would allow these residents to vote in local elections. “Everything that I’ve talked about in my campaign, all my policy engagements, will be done in the first five-year term,” he said on a campaign stop in northern France.
Sarkozy’s shifting stance
Sarkozy himself has changed position on the subject. Appearing on TV on Tuesday morning, he expressed his opposition to a measure that he “never implemented” and “never wanted”. “Do you think that the French people want a government, a president, who thinks giving foreigners the right to vote is a priority?” he bristled.
But in 2005, Sarkozy noted in an interview with daily newspaper Le Monde “that it would not be abnormal for a foreigner with working papers, who pays taxes and has lived in France for at least 10 years, to be able to vote in local elections.”
Before that, in 2001, Sarkozy had already stated that he was in favour of foreigners voting in local elections in his book “Libre” (“Free”). “As long as [foreign residents] pay taxes, respect our laws, have been living on our territory for a certain amount of time….I don’t see how we can logically deprive them of a means of expressing their opinion on what their life is like,” he wrote.
Today, the president justifies his about-face on the issue by pointing to changing times. “I think that 15 years ago, the risk of cultural ghettos was not what it is today,” he explained Tuesday during his TV interview.
and.....
http://www.france24.com/en/20120425-sarkozy-likened-vichy-petain-nazi-collaborator-courting-far-right-vote-ump-national-front-liberation-humanite
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his aides on Wednesday accused the left-wing press of “intellectual terrorism” for comparing the incumbent leader’s flirting with extreme right voters with wartime collaboration with the Nazis.
Leading left-wing daily Libération had published a sombre and funereal black and white photograph of the president on its front page. At the bottom of the page was a quote of Sarkozy saying that far-right National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen was “compatible with the Republic”.
In an editorial, the newspaper accused the president of “Pétaniste” zeal for using the May 1 International Workers' Day celebration to hold a rally in defence of “real work”. The reference was to wartime collaborationist leader of Vichy France Marshall Philippe Pétain, who in 1941 declared May 1 a “national celebration of work and harmony”.
Communist-linked daily L’Humanité was even more explicit, publishing pictures of Sarkozy and Pétain side by side on the front page.
L’Humanité accused Sarkozy of attempting a “takeover bid” of May 1, which is traditionally a left-wing celebration, as part of his campaign to woo the 6.4 million French voters who cast their ballot for Le Pen in the election's first round on Sunday.
Leading left-wing daily Libération had published a sombre and funereal black and white photograph of the president on its front page. At the bottom of the page was a quote of Sarkozy saying that far-right National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen was “compatible with the Republic”.
In an editorial, the newspaper accused the president of “Pétaniste” zeal for using the May 1 International Workers' Day celebration to hold a rally in defence of “real work”. The reference was to wartime collaborationist leader of Vichy France Marshall Philippe Pétain, who in 1941 declared May 1 a “national celebration of work and harmony”.
Communist-linked daily L’Humanité was even more explicit, publishing pictures of Sarkozy and Pétain side by side on the front page.
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L’Humanité accused Sarkozy of attempting a “takeover bid” of May 1, which is traditionally a left-wing celebration, as part of his campaign to woo the 6.4 million French voters who cast their ballot for Le Pen in the election's first round on Sunday.
Sarkozy desperately needs those voters. In the first round, the incumbent came second with 27.8 percent of the vote against Socialist candidate Francois Hollande’s 28.6 percent.
Hollande is tipped to win the second round by almost ten points, unless Sarkozy can convince the 18 percent who supported anti-immigration and anti-Europe Le Pen to vote for him and not stay away from the polls, as many are expected to do.
Gloves-off offensive
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Francois Baroin accused Libération and L’Humanité of “intellectual terrorism” for their attacks on the president.
“The Libération front page is a scandal,” he told Europe 1 radio. “And L’Humanité is completely unacceptable. Putting Sarkozy next to Pétain is scandalous.
“We do not accept this intellectual terrorism. We fought the National Front. We have not formed an alliance with the National Front. We never have and we never will.”
Although Sarkozy confirmed that there would be no official alliance, the tone of his speech on Tuesday made clear that he was launching a gloves-off offensive to bring France’s National Front supporters onside.
He told supporters in Longjumeau, a suburb in the south of Paris, that voters who had turned to Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration party had done so legitimately and that the FN was “compatible with the Republic”.
He also said that nationhood, immigration and border security, all subjects close to the FN’s heart, “had to be talked about” and that he would tackle them head on “so that [FN voters] understand clearly that we have heard their message”.
‘The honour of the country’
For Libération and L’Humanité, Sarkozy’s lurch to the right breaks a long tradition of refusal by the political mainstream to pander to or legitimise the policies of the far right.
Hollande is tipped to win the second round by almost ten points, unless Sarkozy can convince the 18 percent who supported anti-immigration and anti-Europe Le Pen to vote for him and not stay away from the polls, as many are expected to do.
Gloves-off offensive
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Francois Baroin accused Libération and L’Humanité of “intellectual terrorism” for their attacks on the president.
“The Libération front page is a scandal,” he told Europe 1 radio. “And L’Humanité is completely unacceptable. Putting Sarkozy next to Pétain is scandalous.
“We do not accept this intellectual terrorism. We fought the National Front. We have not formed an alliance with the National Front. We never have and we never will.”
Although Sarkozy confirmed that there would be no official alliance, the tone of his speech on Tuesday made clear that he was launching a gloves-off offensive to bring France’s National Front supporters onside.
He told supporters in Longjumeau, a suburb in the south of Paris, that voters who had turned to Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration party had done so legitimately and that the FN was “compatible with the Republic”.
He also said that nationhood, immigration and border security, all subjects close to the FN’s heart, “had to be talked about” and that he would tackle them head on “so that [FN voters] understand clearly that we have heard their message”.
‘The honour of the country’
For Libération and L’Humanité, Sarkozy’s lurch to the right breaks a long tradition of refusal by the political mainstream to pander to or legitimise the policies of the far right.
Libération deputy editor Sylvain Bourmeau told FRANCE 24 on Wednesday that Sarkozy’s speech in Longjummeau was “a sad and shameful day for France”.
He added that the funereal black and white front page reflected “the weird echo that reminds us of the worst chapter in French history.
“Yesterday was a day that will go down in history, the day that the country’s [mainstream] right wing decided to end what used to be a clear separation with the far right,” he said.
“If Sarkozy loses, what will remain of the right wing? Will they be working together with the extreme right?”
Bourmeau went on to accuse Baroin of using a typical far-right strategy in “criticising the media elite”, and said that using these tactics was a sign of “weakness and anxiety” on the part of Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party.
For Libération, he added, the significance of Sarkozy’s flirtation with the National Front went far beyond what was at stake for Sarkozy in the short term.
“This is not just about the second round,” he said. “This is about the honour of the country. It is a question of principle and it is much more important than the election.”
He added that the funereal black and white front page reflected “the weird echo that reminds us of the worst chapter in French history.
“Yesterday was a day that will go down in history, the day that the country’s [mainstream] right wing decided to end what used to be a clear separation with the far right,” he said.
“If Sarkozy loses, what will remain of the right wing? Will they be working together with the extreme right?”
Bourmeau went on to accuse Baroin of using a typical far-right strategy in “criticising the media elite”, and said that using these tactics was a sign of “weakness and anxiety” on the part of Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party.
For Libération, he added, the significance of Sarkozy’s flirtation with the National Front went far beyond what was at stake for Sarkozy in the short term.
“This is not just about the second round,” he said. “This is about the honour of the country. It is a question of principle and it is much more important than the election.”
and as for Greece......
Samaras sets out ND's political and social reforms
“Greece is a country, it is not just an area and the Greeks are a people not just a population,” said Samaras as he called for a “new social contract” between the government and voters. The ND leader attacked the left for what he called “ideological terrorism” in the past and said that the conservatives had begun to break down some taboos, such as changing the immunity law that prevented police entering university grounds. Samaras also advocated a tougher line on illegal immigration – which he labelled an “unarmed invasion”, crime and rioting. He said he would “take down rioters’ hoods” and advocated a major clampdown on petty crime, including drugs use, by allowing police to use CCTV cameras and water cannons. He also said New Democracy would repeal the citizenship law passed by the PASOK government in 2010, which allows 2nd generation immigrants to apply to become Greek citizens. Samaras argued that the legislation had made Greece a “magnet” for illegal immigrants. He also pledged to push the European Union to change the Dublin II regulation forcing asylum seekers to be returned to Greece for processing if it was their point of entry to the EU. “Greece has become a warehouse for all the undesirables,” Samaras told a crowd of party members at the Zappeio Hall in Athens. Samaras called for a constitutional review and placed great emphasis on political reforms, such as reducing the number of MPs from the current 300. He said he would reduce the number of ministries to 10 and would force ministers to quit their jobs as MPs when they join the Cabinet. The ND leader added that he wanted to remove MPs immunity from prosecution. In his speech – the second at Zappeio in just four days – Samaras also stressed the role of education, the Church and Greece’s armed forces. He suggested that the previous PASOK government had ignored the armed forces and that it was vital Greeks showed their respect. “We have to honor our armed forces,” he said. “There is no homeland without patriotism. There is no patriotism without pride.” |
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