Islami News: Dec 13, 2009

Thailand seizes 'N Korea arms jet'

A cargo aircraft transporting over 35 tonnes of arms from North Korea has been seized and its five-man crew detained after landing at Bangkok airport for refuelling, Thai officials have said.

The arms included missiles and grenades, Panitan Wattanayagorn, a spokesman for the Thai government, told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

"The incident is under investigation by the Thai police and tomorrow the five gentlemen will be processed through a court of law in Thailand," Wattanayagorn said.

"We believe that since the plane came from North Korea it violated UN resolutions and we will proceed accordingly."

Since carrying out a nuclear test in May, North Korea has been under UN sanctions aimed at cutting off its arms sales which are thought to net Pyonyang more than $1bn a year.

'Tangible proof'

The North's biggest arms sales come from ballistic missiles and its customers include Iran and other Middle Eastern states, according to US government officials.

Mercedes Stephenson, a defence and security analyst based in Toronto, told Al Jazeera the incident was "tangible proof that North Korea is actually engaging in this activity".

"It's significant in that they've actually caught this particular shipment, [but] it's small in the overall amount of shipping that we suspect North Korea is actually doing ... it is very difficult to track illicit arms shipments."

Media reports said that Thai authorities were alerted about the aircraft's cargo by US officials.

Wattanayagorn did not comment on the reports but said: "We have been working with many agencies from many countries and we will continue to do so."

He said the aircraft had been due to stop again for refuelling in Colombo, Sri Lanka, but that it was unclear what the crew's ultimate destination had been.

Thai police said that four of the five men arrested are from Kazakhstan and one is from Belarus.

The men denied charges of arms possession and were refused bail.
Source: Al Jazeera

Conservative leads Chile polls

Sebastian Pinera, a conservative billionaire, has taken a convincing lead in Chile's presidential elections, but not enough to avoid a second round run-off preliminary results show.

The initial tally released late on Sunday put Pinera the favourite to win a run off race against leftist Eduardo Frei, the ruling coalition candidate and a former Chilean president, next month.

Pinera secured 44 per cent of the vote against Frei's 31 per cent, a result being seen as a major blow for the ruling coalition.

Two other leftist candidates got 19 per cent and six per cent of the votes, according to nationwide results.

The winner in Sunday's polls will succeed Michelle Bachelet, the incumbent leftist leader who is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.

Pinera's victory would mark a shift to the right in a region dominated by leftist leaders but he is not expected to overhaul economic policies that have made Chile a model of stability.

'Better times'

Pinera promised to govern Chile with the same brand of entrepreneurial spirit that made him successful, and expressed optimism after voting on Sunday, saying that "better times are coming".

"This election pits the past against the future, stagnation against progress, division against unity," Pinera, the 60-year-old Harvard-educated businessman, told reporters on the eve of the vote.

Frei, 67, who governed Chile from 1994 to 2000, campaigned on a message of stability and experience.

"We don't want leaps into the unknown, nor do we want to return to the past. We want a government that worries about the people," he said after voting.

"We don't believe that the power of the market and money should have priority over a society."

A potentially influential wildcard factor in the second round poll will be Marco Enriquez Ominami, a former filmmaker who ran as a leftist independent candidate.

According to Sunday's incomplete count he secured about 19 per cent of the ballots.
But Ominami has so far refused to endorse any candidate for the second round pole, saying both men fronted policies that were "more from yesterday than today."

Pinera's right-wing alliance provided key support for the 1973-1990 dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

But analysts say many voters are fed up with having the same government throughout almost two decades of democracy.

Weakening left

The leftist coalition that has run the country since Pinochet stepped down in 1990 has been credited with developing the region's highest standard of living, but it has been weakened in recent years by infighting and defections.

A huge wealth gap between rich and poor and a chronically underfunded education system also have many voters feeling more must be done to redistribute Chile's copper wealth.

A World Bank study several years ago showed that the poorest 10 per cent of Chileans benefit from only 1.3 per cent of government revenues, while the richest 10 per cent benefit from 40 per cent.

Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera's editor for Latin America reporting from the Chilean capital Santiago, said next month's run off was likely to be a very tight race with big spending by the two leading candidates.

Both men had already put out their new slogans for the second round of voting even before the release of the final tally in the first round.

Our correspondent said there were two arguments to what appears to be a major swing from political left to right in Chile.

"One is that it's better to let things get worse before they get better, and clean the house within the coalition parties - even if that means having to live with a conservative government for one or two political terms.

"The other is that it is a very dangerous proposition. Once you let the right-wing in, it's very hard to get them out again, and that its better to transform the coalition from within - something that hasn't really happened over the last 20 years."
Source: Al Jazeera

UK Muslims Europe's Most Patriotic: Study

CAIRO — Though being looked at with suspicion, Muslims in the United Kingdom are the most patriotic in Europe, a new study by a leading international institute has found. On average 78 percent of Muslims identified themselves as British, according to a study conducted by the Open Society Institute and cited by Sunday Times on December 13.

The study, funded by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist, was conducted over two and a half years, involving 2,200 in-depth interviews and 60 focus groups in 11 cities across Europe with large Muslim communities.

The cities were chosen to be representative of varying levels of integration and cohesion across the continent.

The results show that on average 78 percent of Muslims identified themselves as British, 49 percent considered themselves French and just 23 percent who feel German.

The survey found that levels of patriotism are much higher among second-generation Muslims.

In Leicester, 72 percent of Muslims born abroad said they felt British compared to 94 percent among UK-born Muslims.

Message

Nazia Hussain, director of the research project, believes the study shows a discrepancy between how British Muslims see themselves and how the society looks at them.

"There is a disturbing message that emerges from these findings," Hussain told the Times.

"Even though Muslims overwhelmingly feel British, they’re not seen as British by wider society," she added.

A 2007 survey by the Financial Times showed that Britons are the most suspicious about Muslims.

"That said ... there has been a policy of trying to accommodate difference here and it appears to be paying off," said Hussain.

Britain's Muslims, estimated at some 2 million, have taken the full brunt of anti-terror laws since the 7/7 terrorist attacks on London underground system.

Last June, a BBC survey found that the majority of British Muslims are against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda movements and would defend their country against any possible attack.

An earlier ICM/Guardian poll showed that 91 percent of British Muslims were loyal to Britain and 80 percent still wanted to live in and accept Western society.

Source: IslamOnline

Sudan Rivals Agree South Referendum

KHARTOUM – In a major move to end a simmering crisis that threatened to torpedo their peace deal, Sudan’s political rivals announced Sunday, December 13, an agreement on terms of a referendum on the independence of the south. "With this agreement, we announce the end of the crisis between the two partners," Pagan Amum, Secretary-General of Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), told a press conference, reported Reuters.

He said the agreement sets the terms of the 2011 referendum on the independence of south Sudan.

"We have reached agreement on three very important laws which have been the grounds for serious disagreements between the two parties."

He said SPLM and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) agreed on the proportion of votes and the turnout needed for the referendum to be binding.

The SPLM had wanted the referendum result to be determined by a 50+1 majority, while the NCP sought a two-thirds majority.

Amum said the laws also cover a separate ballot on whether the oil-rich region of Abyei should join the south, and vaguer consultation exercises for the populations of the border regions of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan.

Details of the agreement will be announced after consultations with all political forces in Sudan.

The agreement crowned four days of intensive talks between the SPLM and NCP to gulf their differences.

Relations between the SPLM and NCP has been rocky in recent months.

SPLM has accused the NCP of procrastinating to meet their obligations under the 2005 peace deal.

SPLM has boycotted parliament to pressure the ruling party to submit a schedule for a series of bills that would reform the powerful intelligence services.

The tension escalated Monday after Sudanese police detained three senior opposition figures -- including Amum -- and dozens of demonstrators from the south's ruling party in a crackdown against a planned protest.

Southern protesters had responded by torching the NCP office in the southern city of Wau.

Referendum

The ruling NCP also confirmed the deal between the two rivals.

"We announce an agreement between the two partners on all points, which had been a source of disagreement on the referendum law in south Sudan," said NCP deputy head Nafie Ali Nafie.

He said the two parties also agreed to "look into the national security and intelligence law in order to reach an agreement", declining to elaborate.

Amum said the two sides also agreed to form a committee to discuss remaining issues, including arrangements for the 2010 national elections.

The 2010 election will be the first in Sudan since 1986, three years before President Omar Al-Beshir toppled a democratically elected government in a bloodless military coup, and the fifth since independence in 1956.

Registration for the polls began on November 1 and was to have run until the end of last month but extended until December 7 after a request from SPLM and opposition parties.

Southern Sudanese will vote in a referendum in 2011 on whether to secede from the Muslim north.

The referendum is part of the 2005 north-south peace deal, which ended a two-decade civil war between the north and south.

The accord established an interim period, with a coalition government between the Muslim north and mostly Christian south and the sharing of oil wealth.

Source: IslamOnline

Iran Warns Opposition Over Founder Insult

TEHRAN – In a stern warning to the anti-government forces, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khameni accused the opposition Sunday, December 13, of insulting the Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "They are openly violating the law, they insulted Imam Khomeini," Khamenei said in a hard-hitting televised speech cited by Reuters.

Khamenei said the opposition was violating the law by insulting the memory of Iran’s founder Khomeini.

"Some people violated the law, created riots and encouraged people to stand against the system," he said, referring to opposition leaders.

"They also prepared the ground for the enemies of the revolution...to insult the system."

Tension has increased in Iran since student backers of opposition leader Mir hossein Mousavi last Monday clashed in Tehran with security forces in the largest anti-government demonstration in months.

State television has broadcast footage showing opposition supporters tearing up and trampling on a picture of Khomeini during the Dec. 7 protests.

The insult sparked nationwide protests on Saturday and Sunday, with protestors chanting "Death to America" and "Death to opponents of the Supreme Leader".

"Those who shout slogans in the name of these people (opposition leaders), hoist their pictures and speak of them with respect are in a point which is the exact opposite of the Imam (Khomeini), revolution and Islam," Khamenei said.

"When you see this, step aside.

"I don't believe in purging, I believe in maximum attraction, but it looks as if some people insist on distancing themselves from the system and they have turned a family dispute into a battle against the system," Khamenei said.

Iran sank into political turmoil since the disputed June presidential elections, which saw incumbent Ahmadinejad re-elected in landslide.

Anger

The insult of Iran’s founder has sparked furor in the Islamic Republic, with calls for the punishment of the opposition leaders.

"The people are angry at those who carried out such an act," Ahmadinejad told reporters.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards also called for the punishment of those behind the insults against Khomeini.

"Khomeini's followers will not tolerate silence and faltering in exposing, putting on trial and quick punishment of those who committed this outrageous act, which undoubtedly stems from foreign enemies' think-tanks and internal plotters," the Guards said in a statement.

Some reformist websites suggested Mousavi may be arrested.

The opposition earlier accused the authorities of planning to use the reported desecration of Khomeini's picture as a pretext to uproot the reform movement.

"I'm sure students would never do such a thing because we all know they love Imam Khomeini," Mousavi said.

Khamenei, who has openly sided with Ahmadinejad after the disputed elections, insisted Sunday that the polls were lawful.

"Those who stage illegal rallies they have no root in the society," he said.

"The election is over. It was legal and they could not demonstrate their claim (of vote fraud)."

Source: IslamOnline

The hypocrisy of Al-demoqratia

So this is how democracy works?

In 2004, France banned headscarves and school principals chased after young "defiant" Muslim girls who continued to cover their heads in school. Now, following a national referendum, Switzerland has banned the construction of minarets, because minarets also somehow symbolize oppression. Thanks to the dedicated action of the far-right Swiss People's Party, the Alpine skies will be free from the snaking menace, which would spread intolerance and taint the splendor of Swiss architecture.

In between these two peculiar events, the targeting of Muslims in Western countries and the subjugation of entire Muslim nations all over the world has never ceased. Not for a day.

Moreover, the collective targeting of small or large Muslim communities in Western countries, and the deliberate abuse and degradation of Muslim individuals and Islamic symbols (from the Holy Koran to the Prophet Mohammed) has also never ceased.

Bizarrely, most of these actions have been done through "democratic" channels and justified in the name of democracy, on the basis of upholding the principles of secularism and Western values.

Many thoughts come to mind here; all unreservedly angry.

I remember when the word "democracy" used to resonate so loudly among Arabs and Muslims around the world. The more they were denied it, the more they yearned for it. University campuses in Cairo, Gaza and Karachi took their student union elections so very seriously. Innocent blood was spilled in clashes around campuses as students desperately tried to express their right to vote, to speak out and to assemble.

Those were the days, when al-demoqratia, Arabic for democracy, was the buzzword in the Middle East and beyond. Even Palestinian political prisoners held their elections, ever so faithfully, surrounded by highly fortified towers and under the deriding gaze of armed men in the unforgiving heat of the Naqab desert.

Arab and Muslim masses were keen on democracy to the extent that there was a near consensus that democracy, although a Western conception, could be distinguished from the many ills invited by Western interventions, imperialism and wars that scarred and continued to impair the collective Muslim psyche.

An entire school of Muslim thought was in fact established around the concept that democracy and Islam are very much compatible. Such a notion goes back to Egypt's Azharite scholar Rifa'a al-Tahtawi, who argued in the first half of the 19th century that the principles of European modernity were compatible with Islam.

"Al-Tahtawi's work influenced the philosopher Muhammad Abduh [1849-1905], another Azharite who is often described as the founder of Islamic modernism, which is captured in his statement that in Europe he found Islam without Muslims, while in Egypt he found Muslims without Islam," wrote German anthropologist, Frank Fanselow.

If one sets his prejudices aside to ponder this for a moment, one would realize the intellectual valor it takes to consider and even embrace commonalities with the very powers that have instilled so much harm and fear.

Even in their darkest, least proud moments, Muslim intellectuals and nations displayed impressive open-mindedness. They are hardly ever credited for that.

More recently, in Egypt, people tried hard to vote, in the face of beatings, public humiliation and imprisonment. In Palestine in 2006 the price was even higher - starvation. Gaza continues to endure under a medieval Israeli siege, ultimately because of an election.

Muslim communities in the West have long been considered the luckiest; after all, they live in the abodes of democracy. They drink from the fountain of rights and freedoms that never runs dry.

However, these idealized assumptions missed the fact that Western democracy was conditional. And unconditional democracy can only be a farce.

Much has been said to explain the West's faltering on its own commitment to democracy. No, the tragedy of September 11, 2001, is hardly the defining moment that created the growing chasm that made the West fearful of Islam. Despite all that has taken place since then - the constant spewing out of right-wing hatred, evangelical fanatic preaching and all the rest - America is still more tolerant than Europe. Nor was the growing anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe a response in solidarity to America's woes.

Honestly, the French are not fond of Americans, nor are the Germans necessarily that passionate about the Swiss. But this didn't stop a German Christian Democratic state interior minister, Volker Bouffier, from making a "recommendation" to Muslim communities in his own country: "Naturally the Muslims in Germany have a right to build mosques. But they should make sure not to overwhelm the German population with them."

How do you overwhelm people with minarets? Is this a post-post-post-modernistic logic that we are yet to be informed of?

There are only four minarets in the entire country of Switzerland, a country with a population of approximately 7.6 million people. How overwhelming can that be? And aren't religious freedom and the freedom of collective and individual expression basic rights guaranteed by democratic values?

But this is hardly about a 4.8-meter tall minaret in the northern Swiss town of Langenthal. It's about the fact that the one who suggested the structure is a Muslim furniture salesman by the name of Mutalip Karaademi. He didn't know, of course, that his modest idea of adding a minaret to the community's mosque would generate a nationwide referendum, and an international "controversy".

Karaademi was not trying to "Islamificate" the Swiss. He just wanted his community to have a place for worship (as opposed to the unused paint factory it currently uses for prayer), to be able to express its collective identity without fear. Ironically enough, the Muslim community in Langenthal is mostly Albanians, refugees who fled Kosovo seeking escape and deliverance.

What a strange paradox: Muslims escaping to the West, physically and figuratively, only to find double standards, self-negation and, at times, pure hypocrisy.

For now, however, a new consensus is forming: democracy can be invoked and used against Muslims only, and not for Muslims. It can be manipulated to deny them their identity in Europe and their freedom in Palestine, to ensure their subjugation in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and to meddle in their internal affairs everywhere else.

Al-demoqratia, indeed.

-- Ramzy Baroud is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers, journals and anthologies around the world. His latest book is, The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London), and his forthcoming book is, My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza The Untold Story (Pluto Press, London), which is now available for pre-orders at Amazon.
Source: AJP