1/19/2008
1/18/2008
Reuters: Belarus jails publisher of Mohammed cartoons
- Click here to see the Mo-toons up close!
- Click here to learn about the Mo-toons blogburst!
- Click here for more information and links.
BELARUS (Reuters) - Belarus on Friday jailed for three years an editor of an independent newspaper who reproduced cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that first appeared in Denmark in 2005 and caused mass demonstrations across the Muslim world.
The 12 cartoons portraying the founder of Islam, including one showing the prophet with a bomb in his turban, outraged Muslims who saw them as blasphemous. More than 50 people died in protests across the world the following year.
Belarussian authorities shut down the "Zgoda" (Consensus) paper in March 2006, around the time when other European journals began reprinting the cartoons. The security service, still known by its Soviet-era name, the KGB, began an investigation after Muslims in the ex-Soviet state complained.
Editor Alexander Sdvizhkov was sentenced to three years in jail in a closed session of the court for incitement of religious and national hatred.
"May God and the holy cross be with us," Sdvizhkov said afterwards. His lawyer said she would appeal.
Muslims constitute about two or three percent of the 10 million residents of the country wedged between Russia and three members of the European Union. The Muslim community had called for leniency in the case.
Miklos Haraszti, media freedom representative for the 56-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, protested against Sdvizhkov's jailing, calling the case against him "shocking" and saying he should be freed.
"Persecution of journalists for trying to inform the public on important issues is a misuse of hate speech laws," Haraszti said in a statement from Vienna. "In fact the Belarus government has used the international controversy around the cartoons as a pretext to eliminate a critical voice from public life."
President Alexander Lukashenko is accused by the West of ruling the country with an iron grip, jailing opponents, shutting down independent media and rigging polls, including his own re-election to a third term in 2006.
(Reporting by Andrey Makhovsky in Minsk; writing by Sabina Zawadzki)
Chess legend Bobby Fischer dies
Radio Netherlands: Chess legend Bobby Fischer dies
Published: Friday 18 January 2008 13:06 UTC
Last updated: Friday 18 January 2008 14:52 UTC
Reykjavik - Icelandic national radio reports that chess legend Bobby Fischer has died at home there. He was 64 and had been ill for some time.
US Grandmaster Bobby Fischer became world champion after a legendary game against Soviet player Boris Spassky in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik in 1972. After winning the world title, he did not play another match for 20 years.
In 1992, he played a rematch against Boris Spassky in Serbia, thereby violating UN sanctions. As a result, he faced a ten-year jail sentence if he ever set foot in the United States again.
He went to live in Hungary, and later moved to the Philippines and Japan. He was arrested at Tokyo's Narita airport in 2004 for travelling on a passport that had been revoked by the US government.
After spending months in Japanese custody, Bobby Fischer was granted Icelandic citizenshp as a tribute for making the country famous in 1972.
Also see:
German Polar Bear to Get Name
Breitbart: German Polar Bear to Get Name
Decision will be announced in the afternoon of January 18, 2008.
North Dakota Judge Gets It Wrong - Prosecutes Legitimate Spam-Chaser
North Dakota Judge Gets It Wrong
From the page: "...WAY wrong. This is just mind blowing.
Ever been prosecuted for tracking spam? Running a traceroute? Doing a zone transfer? Asking a public internet server for public information that it is configured to provide upon demand?
No? Well, David Ritz has. And amazingly, he lost the case.
Here are just a few of the gems that the court has the audacity to call "conclusions of law." Read them while you go donate to David's legal defense fund. He got screwed here, folks, and needs your help."
Human-animal hybrid research in Britain
BBC: Green light for hybrid research
I am certainly NOT at ease with this!
From the page: "Regulators in the UK have given scientists the green light to create human-animal embryos for research.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority granted permission after a consultation showed the public were "at ease" with the idea.
Experts said it was vital for research into life-threatening diseases."
Are you getting a real CHARGE out of your laptop?
Is computing meant to be an electrifying experience?
I was truly shocked! I admit that I am rather stoic when it comes to pain. I recently felt a light stinging sensation from a laptop, but I was busy, so I ignored it. I didn't realize that anything was wrong until I had already received several second-degree burns. Your mileage may vary.
The shock problem is NOT limited to Dell.
In fact, you can get a shock from just about any make of laptop, if you are using it while it is plugged in to AC current with an ungrounded adapter/charger.
What to do? Ask for an AC charger/adapter with a three-prong grounded (earthed) plug. Then plug your laptop into a correctly-wired receptacle.
If you cannot obtain a grounded charger, then avoid letting your skin come into direct contact with the outside of the laptop case while it is plugged into AC power.
Details:
(Also at Fort Hard Knox.)
1/15/2008
Balkan Terrorists Target Euro Police Convention
| (For rolling updates, |
Politeia, Saturday, January 12, 2008
The 11th European Police Congress, to be held in Berlin on 29-30th January is the target of a Balkan Al Qaeda franchise.
The convention will be inaugurated by Franco Frattini, Vice President of the European Commission, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. The second item on the agenda is "Global, European and National threats by Terrorists: National Concepts to face the Challenge."
In a programme note (bottom Programme section) it is advised that one of the speakers, Dr Darko Trifunovic - a maverick young investigator from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Security Studies - will not be able to attend due to "pressure and death threats" made against him by radical groups that are under his investigation. He has decided not to "expose himself and the congress to further danger."
Dr Darko Trifunovic has been conducting research into the origins, ambitions and operating methods of what he calls "white Al Qaeda", the home grown branch of the terrorist franchise organization in the various areas of the Balkans.
It first took foothold in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the Western powers in the 90's saw the influx of Afghan war veterans into the territory as an easy way to support the Bosnian Muslims. Since the Dayton Peace Accord Iranians as well as Saudi Wahhabis have flooded the statelet with funds, over-sized mosques and subversive organizations, one of which has members throughout the Bosniak diaspora in Europe, Canada and the US. One such is CNAB, the center of gravity of the present threats against Trifunovic.
Trifunovic has also found new links between Bosnia and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the London and Madrid train bombings. Specifically mentioned are Mohammed Atta, who coordinated the 9/11 outrage, and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Bosnian citizenship holder and war veteran, former Al Qaeda 'Operations Chief', who - according to Dr Darko Trifunovic - took over the leadership of the Al Qaeda media campaign ('the Committee') during the planning of the 9/11. Atta's place of residence was a Bosnian hamlet before launching off to Hamburg and the US for his fatal mission.
With the knowledge of the UN interim governors in Kosovo, Albanian-American radicals were actively recruiting terrorists for 'the war against America' prior to the 9/11 attack, of which they had foreknowledge. The UN however, did nothing.
The Foreign Area Officer Association FAOA posits that the Sarajevo based organization, AIO's (Aktivna Islamska Omladina)[1] "(...) Islamic weekly magazine SAFF [2] and organization's website have been fronts of radical Islamic preaching, gaining notoriety for publishing interviews with terrorists who have fought against US forces in Iraq and expressing solidarity with the jihadists and suicide bombers in Israel." FAOA also links the AIO with members throughout the Bosniak diaspora in Europe and the US, one of which is the CNAB, now the center of gravity, threatening Trifunovic.
CNAB claims to represent some 350.000 Bosniak refugees in the US and Canada. Trifunovic qualifies them as a new jihadi organization. He specifies four members in particular, who are one way or another involved in Islamist activities. In Terror Finance Blog in "Bosnjaci.net Attacks on Darko Trifunovic" Trifunovic specifies as follows:
"Here is why Bosnjaci.net, an Islamist web site from Bosnia is attacking me.
One of Bosnjaci.net's favorite and honored members is Sakib Mahmuljin, who is a high-ranking Bosnian White Al Qaeda member, accused of war crimes. See this: "War crimes: "Vozuca case", six years later".
Izet Nanic is a former commander of the 505th Buzim Brigade with the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army which was an integral part was the "Hamze" unit. See here and here.
Another prominent individual on Bosnjaci.net is Nezim Halilovic-Muderis. He is imam at the Wal-Mart-sized, Wahhabi King Fahd mosque, which opened in 2000 on the outskirts of Sarajevo, built with Saudi money and named after the Saudi monarch. Nezim Halilovic-Muderis, a Bosnian extremist agitator whose antics I have been following since 1999. Muderis's Friday sermons, available on Bosnian websites, are replete with incitement to violence in Israel, Kashmir, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and the Philippines. He preaches the same line on the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, as is heard among the acolytes of the late terrorist leader of 'Al Qaeda in Iraq', Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
It is, to say the least, bizarre: "In Falluja, according to statements from the U.S. command, spirits have appeared in the form of enormous spiders, weighing about a kilogram, that only attack U.S. soldiers, and the person who is bitten dies within seconds." More information about this prominent Wahhabist is here.
Another Bosnian Muslim war criminal, protected and promoted by Bosnjaci.net is Rasim Delic. According to the indictment, Rasim Delic was aware that the jihadi members of the 
Bosnian army had a distinct tendency to commit crimes, especially against captured enemy combatants and civilians (...) Reportedly, however, he took no measures whatsoever to stop these acts taking place.
In an email Trifunovic has it that the web master of Bosnjaci.net
A brief insight into some of the more flowery death threats against Trifunovic, posted at Bosnjaci.net"Help us God to erase Trifunovic and entire his family from Earth - We must teach our kids from age of 5 how to use pistols and guns, and that they hold in one hand (knjiga) Ku'ran and in another hand a gun ready for use - If Darko Trifunovci goes to the 11th Police Congress in Berlin, God help that all Muslims finish him - Such individuals as Darko Trifunovic, we need to harass him, and we need to continue to discredit him by all means and to very end, until others dare not show up to talk about terrorism"
The manicheic character of the site is illustrated by the shocking death threats in one section, while another is reserved for "Dobri Bosnjaci" (good Bosniaks). The latter consists of a list of special members of the portal: dangerous Islamic fundamentalists and war criminals. Trifunovic: "We are dealing with pure criminals (...) I am planning to inform all EU, US and other relevant authorities regarding this unfortunate incident in order to prevent such thing from happening again in the future." I don't share his optimism.
Earlier this week a colleague of Trifunovic, analyst Ioannis Michaletos, released this media message on his behalf.
Up to now Dr Trifunovic has been able to conduct his investigations from the ivory tower of the University of Belgrade in relative tranquility. When it transpired however he was invited to speak during the upcoming 11th Police Congress and - as a consequence, the results of his research would reach the professional domain - no methods have been shunned to intimidate him, discredit him as a person and as a scholar.
With false accusations of 'Srebrenica denial' and 'hate mongering' - references to laws prohibiting Holocaust denial and inciting racial hatred - attempts have been made to get him banned from the police convention; impersonations and cyber manipulation being but the least methods of choice to muzzle. But it is my understanding that, far from denying the deplorable events at Srebrenica, Trifunovic has been further investigating the matter.
Apart from the personal injury done here, the public damage of this terrorist saga is two-fold: researchers are being harassed to prevent them from doing their jobs, thus interfering with the right of enquiry. The consequences of such actions on the academic level could well be considerable. The second part is even worse: the intimidation of officials conducting criminal enquiries
Let me wrap this up with some thoughts of my own. In the past few decades one of the greater mysteries has been the question, how the Holocaust on six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis could have taken place without the entire continent raising up in protest. At present, a sizable majority of people in the West surprisingly seem to be sharing views with the people who have declared against us. However treacherous and hard to fathom this may be, it is kinder on the persons harbouring such views: it is after all easier to be a voluntary accomplice - silent or otherwise - than it is to be a coward.
Recent posts on this subject:
- "Progress Report on Operation Western Deconstruct" (summary of the series)- "Progress Report (3): the Assault on the Rule of Law"
- Filed on Articles in "Progress Report: Summary", cat. Balkans/E.Europe, GWOT, Moral Legislation, Neo Totalitarianism, Terrorism -
Posted by Cassandra at 18:54
Update 1/15/08:
The Jawa Report: Bosnian Islamist Website Posts Death Threats, Gets Hacked
As of January 13, the website bosnjaci.net, which is said to be an al Qaeda support forum, is no longer functioning. In place of the normal display is a message saying that the site is closed, and that the hacker attack took place because Darko Trifunovic had to cancel his appearance at the Euro police convention.
We will continue to follow this story, which is proving to be very interesting indeed.
More:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Blog Directory
