1) "A new bidder has emerged in the carve-up of Centro's $18.6 billion shopping centre empire with listed Israeli company Gazit Globe, its part-owned US trust Equity One, US private equity group Apollo and Canada's Brookfield believed to have formed a consortium... According to Gazit Globe's website, the Tel Aviv-listed group operates in 20 countries and owns and manages 650 properties worth $US15bn. Gazit has a 52% stake in US-listed real estate investment trust Equity One and a 66% holding in the Toronto-listed Gazit America, described on the website as being focused on entrepreneurial real estate opportunities. Gazit America owns about 16% of Equity One." (Israelis enter Centro arena, Yuri Condon, The Australian, 2/12/10)
2) I thought I'd seen the complete range of Israeli Dead Sea mineral brands in my mall crawls around this great nation of ours - Ahava, Beauty Mineral, Seacret - but no, I recently came across another: Jericho Skin Care. Jericho!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Ripping Yarn
Cool:
"During [Meir] Dagan's term as Mossad chief, the Middle East became littered with the bodies of assassination victims." (Killing of scientists may be Mossad boss's last hurrah, Abe Rabinovich, The Australian, 4/12/10)
"During [Meir] Dagan's term as Mossad chief, the Middle East became littered with the bodies of assassination victims." (Killing of scientists may be Mossad boss's last hurrah, Abe Rabinovich, The Australian, 4/12/10)
Monday, December 6, 2010
WikiLeaks 3
The backward look behind the assurance
Of recorded history, the backward half-look
Over the shoulder, towards the primitive terror
T. S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages
"American concerns about a Middle East country other than Iran are revealed in WikiLeaks documents that point to a shift by Turkey, a long-time US ally, towards Islamic fundamentalism... According to WikiLeaks documents published on the website of Der Spiegel, American diplomats depicted the present Turkish leadership as divided and permeated by Islamists. Advisers to Mr Erdogan, one cable said, 'have little understanding of politics beyond Ankara'." (Cable reveals US fear of Turkey's leaders, Abraham Rabinovich, The Australian, 1/12/10)
Hang on! Let me get this right: an American diplomat - American, for God's sake! - reckons Erdogan's men don't have a clue about the world outside their Ankara bubble. The implication, of course, is that only Yankee Doodle Dandies (and their Israeli minders?) know what's really going on outside their Washington bubble. Pull the other.
"Mr Erdogan himself got his information almost exclusively from newspapers with close links to Islamists." (ibid)
You mean, as distinct from Bushama, who gets his almost exclusively from Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, which positively pullulates with Zioncon pundits like Bret Stephens (see WikiLeaks 2)?
"Particular concern was expressed about Mr Erdogan's Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, who was described in one cable as 'exceptionally dangerous'. Mr Davatoglu is seen as wishing to restore the grandeur of the Ottoman Empire, which stretched across much of the Middle East and North Africa for four centuries before collapsing in World War I. According to another document, a Turkish official said, in apparent jest, that Turkey wanted 'to take back Andalusia (in modern Spain) and avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683'." (ibid)
In apparent jest? Egads, lads! Was that viper really just joking?
Afraid so. Andalusia was never an Ottoman possession to begin with. In fact, Al-Andalus (711- 1492) predated the emergence of the Ottoman Turks by centuries. Moreover, the Ottomans hadn't even gotten around to knocking off the Byzantines until 1453.
As for the siege of Vienna, a little perspective, please.
Historian Andrew Wheatcroft concludes his excellent study, The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans & the Battle for Europe (2008), thus:
"During this long struggle between the Ottomans and Habsburgs something unusual happened, which has gone unremarked. For centuries they were the bitterest of enemies. Then they stopped being enemies, even becoming unlikely allies from 1914 to 1918. After that war, commercial ties continued to grow, and in the 1950s Turks began to arrive in Austria as guest workers, as they did in much larger numbers in West Germany. They were not well treated, but virtually no one regarded them as a threat. Now, the west is gripped by fear, and a fresh Battle for Europe promoted as a direct continuation of the old Battle for Europe.
"The contrast between what actually happened and these carefully fabricated myths is startling. Once more the Siege of Vienna in 1683 is becoming an inspirational metaphor of perpetual struggle, of West versus East, of Muslim vs Christian, just as it was hundreds of years ago. Once more the event is serving a polemical purpose. Now it buttresses the idea that a new Battle for Europe is being fought. The Turks of the 21st century must not be allowed to enter the European Union because this will destroy Christendom. They would succeed where their Ottoman predecessors had failed in 1683.
"Those holdings these views include very prominent men, among them a former Commissioner of the European Union, Franz Bolkestein, who said very publicly that if Turkey entered the EU, then 'the liberation* of Vienna in 1683 would have been in vain'. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XIV, also looked to history: 'The roots that have formed Europe, that have permitted the formation of this continent, are those of Christianity. Turkey has always represented another continent, in permanent contrast with Europe. There were the wars against the Byzantine Empire, the fall of Constantinople, the Balkan wars, and the threat against Vienna and Austria. It would be an error to equate the two continents... the entry of Turkey into the EU would be anti-historical'.
"Against history? This is a very strong claim but Bolkestein and Pope Benedict XIV are not the only people who believe in this fable. The masthead of The Gates of Vienna blog puts it simply: 'At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war'. I have tried to present dispassionately what happened centuries ago. There was, in that time, unimaginable cruelty, savagery and implacable hatred among all the combatants. Yet in the 19th century the bitter attitudes that so suffused those struggles diminished, and a new kind of relationship developed, which I have also described. The older feelings and attitudes were (and are) still present but they were (and are) definitely in abeyance.
"Scouring the darker parts of the past, creating false memories for use as weapons, is a risky business. No one can say what will happen as a result. In the Balkan wars of the 1990s we witnessed many examples of a partial view of the past being invoked for political ends. Mythologised history became the excuse for savagery: ethnic cleansing is one of the most loathsome neologisms of the 20th century." (pp 266-267)
Thanks to WikiLeaks we now know that Yankee doodle diplomats possess neither a sense of humour nor a knowledge of history. Erdogan and Davutoglu must have pissed themselves
[*Err... the Pope may be infallible, but not his grasp of history: Vienna didn't fall in 1683, so how could it have been liberated?]
Of recorded history, the backward half-look
Over the shoulder, towards the primitive terror
T. S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages
"American concerns about a Middle East country other than Iran are revealed in WikiLeaks documents that point to a shift by Turkey, a long-time US ally, towards Islamic fundamentalism... According to WikiLeaks documents published on the website of Der Spiegel, American diplomats depicted the present Turkish leadership as divided and permeated by Islamists. Advisers to Mr Erdogan, one cable said, 'have little understanding of politics beyond Ankara'." (Cable reveals US fear of Turkey's leaders, Abraham Rabinovich, The Australian, 1/12/10)
Hang on! Let me get this right: an American diplomat - American, for God's sake! - reckons Erdogan's men don't have a clue about the world outside their Ankara bubble. The implication, of course, is that only Yankee Doodle Dandies (and their Israeli minders?) know what's really going on outside their Washington bubble. Pull the other.
"Mr Erdogan himself got his information almost exclusively from newspapers with close links to Islamists." (ibid)
You mean, as distinct from Bushama, who gets his almost exclusively from Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, which positively pullulates with Zioncon pundits like Bret Stephens (see WikiLeaks 2)?
"Particular concern was expressed about Mr Erdogan's Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, who was described in one cable as 'exceptionally dangerous'. Mr Davatoglu is seen as wishing to restore the grandeur of the Ottoman Empire, which stretched across much of the Middle East and North Africa for four centuries before collapsing in World War I. According to another document, a Turkish official said, in apparent jest, that Turkey wanted 'to take back Andalusia (in modern Spain) and avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683'." (ibid)
In apparent jest? Egads, lads! Was that viper really just joking?
Afraid so. Andalusia was never an Ottoman possession to begin with. In fact, Al-Andalus (711- 1492) predated the emergence of the Ottoman Turks by centuries. Moreover, the Ottomans hadn't even gotten around to knocking off the Byzantines until 1453.
As for the siege of Vienna, a little perspective, please.
Historian Andrew Wheatcroft concludes his excellent study, The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans & the Battle for Europe (2008), thus:
"During this long struggle between the Ottomans and Habsburgs something unusual happened, which has gone unremarked. For centuries they were the bitterest of enemies. Then they stopped being enemies, even becoming unlikely allies from 1914 to 1918. After that war, commercial ties continued to grow, and in the 1950s Turks began to arrive in Austria as guest workers, as they did in much larger numbers in West Germany. They were not well treated, but virtually no one regarded them as a threat. Now, the west is gripped by fear, and a fresh Battle for Europe promoted as a direct continuation of the old Battle for Europe.
"The contrast between what actually happened and these carefully fabricated myths is startling. Once more the Siege of Vienna in 1683 is becoming an inspirational metaphor of perpetual struggle, of West versus East, of Muslim vs Christian, just as it was hundreds of years ago. Once more the event is serving a polemical purpose. Now it buttresses the idea that a new Battle for Europe is being fought. The Turks of the 21st century must not be allowed to enter the European Union because this will destroy Christendom. They would succeed where their Ottoman predecessors had failed in 1683.
"Those holdings these views include very prominent men, among them a former Commissioner of the European Union, Franz Bolkestein, who said very publicly that if Turkey entered the EU, then 'the liberation* of Vienna in 1683 would have been in vain'. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XIV, also looked to history: 'The roots that have formed Europe, that have permitted the formation of this continent, are those of Christianity. Turkey has always represented another continent, in permanent contrast with Europe. There were the wars against the Byzantine Empire, the fall of Constantinople, the Balkan wars, and the threat against Vienna and Austria. It would be an error to equate the two continents... the entry of Turkey into the EU would be anti-historical'.
"Against history? This is a very strong claim but Bolkestein and Pope Benedict XIV are not the only people who believe in this fable. The masthead of The Gates of Vienna blog puts it simply: 'At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war'. I have tried to present dispassionately what happened centuries ago. There was, in that time, unimaginable cruelty, savagery and implacable hatred among all the combatants. Yet in the 19th century the bitter attitudes that so suffused those struggles diminished, and a new kind of relationship developed, which I have also described. The older feelings and attitudes were (and are) still present but they were (and are) definitely in abeyance.
"Scouring the darker parts of the past, creating false memories for use as weapons, is a risky business. No one can say what will happen as a result. In the Balkan wars of the 1990s we witnessed many examples of a partial view of the past being invoked for political ends. Mythologised history became the excuse for savagery: ethnic cleansing is one of the most loathsome neologisms of the 20th century." (pp 266-267)
Thanks to WikiLeaks we now know that Yankee doodle diplomats possess neither a sense of humour nor a knowledge of history. Erdogan and Davutoglu must have pissed themselves
[*Err... the Pope may be infallible, but not his grasp of history: Vienna didn't fall in 1683, so how could it have been liberated?]
Saturday, December 4, 2010
WikiLeaks 2
Following WikiLeaks' release of the latest batch of US embassy cables, Israeli propaganda and its spear carriers in the corporate media have hilariously begun painting America's Arab clients as the driving force behind the push for an attack on Iran, and Israel as some sort of innocent bystander*:
"One also has to wonder what effects the Wikileak's disclosures might have on other articles of liberal policy faith. Are Israeli Likudniks and their and their neocon friends (present company included) the dark matter pushing the US toward war with Iran? Well, no. Arab Likudniks turn out to be even more vocal on that score." (Leaks force policy wonks to grow up, Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal/The Australian, 1/12/10)
Stephens is, of course, alluding to the likes of the Saudi king who colorfuly urged the Americans "to cut the head off the snake," and the UAE defense chief who referred to the Iranian president as "Hitler." (Fears of a nuclear Iran: ME leaders speak about their powerful neighbor, New York Times, 28/11/10)
But the cables also reveal are far more ambivalent attitude on the part of USrael's Arab allies: "Although the UAE regards Iran as one of its most serious threats to national security, UAE officials are reluctant to take actions that could provoke their neighbor and compromise their extensive trading relationship." (Cable from US Embassy in Abu Dhabi, 29/4/06)
So this is the dark matter pushing the US toward war with Iran?
Well, no. This is:
"[Meir] Dagan [Israel's Mossad Chief] reviewed Israel's five-pillar strategy concerning Iran's nuclear program, stressed that Iran is economically vulnerable, and pressed for more activity with Iran's minority groups aimed at regime change... Instability in Iran is driven by inflation and tension among ethnic minorities. This, Dagan said, presents unique opportunities, and Israelis and Americans might see a change in Iran in their lifetimes... Dagan described how the Israeli strategy consists of five pillars... B) Covert Measures: Dagan and the Under Secretary [Nick Burns] agreed not to discuss this approach in the larger group setting... E) Force Regime Change: Dagan said that more should be done to foment regime change in Iran, possibly with the support of student democracy movements, and ethnic groups (eg Azeris, Kurds, Baluchs) opposed to the ruling regime." (US embassy cables: Israel grateful for US support, guardian.co.uk, 28/11/10; Cable from US Embassy in Tel Aviv, 31/8/07)
[* "One of the clear revelations from those leaked cables is that numerous Arab leaders have asked the Americans to take military action to stop Iran getting military weapons. One might note that this does rather give the lie to the insane notion - peddled not least by US academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt - that an all-powerful Jewish lobby is the only group in the world so exercised by a nuclear Iran as to consider supporting military action. Instead, all over the Arab world, rulers are begging the Americans to do anything they can, even military action, to stop Tehran acquiring nukes." (WikiLeaks cables expose Arab states' hypocrisy over Iran, Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 4/12/10)]
"One also has to wonder what effects the Wikileak's disclosures might have on other articles of liberal policy faith. Are Israeli Likudniks and their and their neocon friends (present company included) the dark matter pushing the US toward war with Iran? Well, no. Arab Likudniks turn out to be even more vocal on that score." (Leaks force policy wonks to grow up, Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal/The Australian, 1/12/10)
Stephens is, of course, alluding to the likes of the Saudi king who colorfuly urged the Americans "to cut the head off the snake," and the UAE defense chief who referred to the Iranian president as "Hitler." (Fears of a nuclear Iran: ME leaders speak about their powerful neighbor, New York Times, 28/11/10)
But the cables also reveal are far more ambivalent attitude on the part of USrael's Arab allies: "Although the UAE regards Iran as one of its most serious threats to national security, UAE officials are reluctant to take actions that could provoke their neighbor and compromise their extensive trading relationship." (Cable from US Embassy in Abu Dhabi, 29/4/06)
So this is the dark matter pushing the US toward war with Iran?
Well, no. This is:
"[Meir] Dagan [Israel's Mossad Chief] reviewed Israel's five-pillar strategy concerning Iran's nuclear program, stressed that Iran is economically vulnerable, and pressed for more activity with Iran's minority groups aimed at regime change... Instability in Iran is driven by inflation and tension among ethnic minorities. This, Dagan said, presents unique opportunities, and Israelis and Americans might see a change in Iran in their lifetimes... Dagan described how the Israeli strategy consists of five pillars... B) Covert Measures: Dagan and the Under Secretary [Nick Burns] agreed not to discuss this approach in the larger group setting... E) Force Regime Change: Dagan said that more should be done to foment regime change in Iran, possibly with the support of student democracy movements, and ethnic groups (eg Azeris, Kurds, Baluchs) opposed to the ruling regime." (US embassy cables: Israel grateful for US support, guardian.co.uk, 28/11/10; Cable from US Embassy in Tel Aviv, 31/8/07)
[* "One of the clear revelations from those leaked cables is that numerous Arab leaders have asked the Americans to take military action to stop Iran getting military weapons. One might note that this does rather give the lie to the insane notion - peddled not least by US academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt - that an all-powerful Jewish lobby is the only group in the world so exercised by a nuclear Iran as to consider supporting military action. Instead, all over the Arab world, rulers are begging the Americans to do anything they can, even military action, to stop Tehran acquiring nukes." (WikiLeaks cables expose Arab states' hypocrisy over Iran, Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 4/12/10)]
Friday, December 3, 2010
WikiLeaks 1
What Israel wants, Israel gets:
"In an August 17 meeting, Israeli Mossad Chief Meir Dagan thanked Under Secretary [of State Nick] Burns for America's support of Israel as evidence by the previous day's signing of an MOU that provides Israel with USD 30 billion in security assistance from 2008-2018..." (Cable from Tel Aviv, 31/8/07, in US embassy cables: Israel grateful for US support, guardian.co.uk, 28/11/10)
"The Under Secretary stressed that the USG is committed to Israel's QME [Qualitative Military Edge]..." (ibid)
"[Tom] Goldberger [Director for Israel& Palestinian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs] noted that most requests to third countries to deny arms transfer overflights are based on Israeli military intelligence; additional information/intelligence from the GOI would ensure greater cooperation. [Alon] Bar [MFA Deputy Director General for Strategic Affairs] raised prosecuting shipping companies complicit in arms transfers to Gaza; Assistant Secretary [Bureau of Political Military Affairs Andrew] Shapiro said he would take that back to Washington for further consideration." (Cable, US Embassy, Tel Aviv, 18/11/09)
As for the rest...
"When American diplomats pressed other countries to resettle [Guantanamo Bay] detainees, they became reluctant players in a State Department version of 'Let's Make a Deal'. Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees, cables from diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting more prisoners would be 'a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe'." (Leaked cables offer raw look at US diplomacy, Shane & Lehren, New York Times, 28/11/10)
"American officials sharply warned Germany in 2007 not to enforce arrest warrants for CIA officers involved in a bungled operation in which an innocent German citizen with the same name as a suspected militant was mistakenly kidnapped and held for months in Afghanistan. A senior American diplomat told a German official 'that our intention was not to threaten Germany, but rather to urge that the German government weigh carefully at every step of the way the implications for relations with the US'.' (ibid)
"In an August 17 meeting, Israeli Mossad Chief Meir Dagan thanked Under Secretary [of State Nick] Burns for America's support of Israel as evidence by the previous day's signing of an MOU that provides Israel with USD 30 billion in security assistance from 2008-2018..." (Cable from Tel Aviv, 31/8/07, in US embassy cables: Israel grateful for US support, guardian.co.uk, 28/11/10)
"The Under Secretary stressed that the USG is committed to Israel's QME [Qualitative Military Edge]..." (ibid)
"[Tom] Goldberger [Director for Israel& Palestinian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs] noted that most requests to third countries to deny arms transfer overflights are based on Israeli military intelligence; additional information/intelligence from the GOI would ensure greater cooperation. [Alon] Bar [MFA Deputy Director General for Strategic Affairs] raised prosecuting shipping companies complicit in arms transfers to Gaza; Assistant Secretary [Bureau of Political Military Affairs Andrew] Shapiro said he would take that back to Washington for further consideration." (Cable, US Embassy, Tel Aviv, 18/11/09)
As for the rest...
"When American diplomats pressed other countries to resettle [Guantanamo Bay] detainees, they became reluctant players in a State Department version of 'Let's Make a Deal'. Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees, cables from diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting more prisoners would be 'a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe'." (Leaked cables offer raw look at US diplomacy, Shane & Lehren, New York Times, 28/11/10)
"American officials sharply warned Germany in 2007 not to enforce arrest warrants for CIA officers involved in a bungled operation in which an innocent German citizen with the same name as a suspected militant was mistakenly kidnapped and held for months in Afghanistan. A senior American diplomat told a German official 'that our intention was not to threaten Germany, but rather to urge that the German government weigh carefully at every step of the way the implications for relations with the US'.' (ibid)
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Paul Sheehan's Jumbo Dump
Twice-rambammed (2007 & 2008) Sydney Morning Herald calumnist Paul Sheehan struggled into a sitting position, his bed still wreathed in last night's mephitic odours. Bubble and squeak be buggered, the night was more your shock and awe.
Inevitably, for the flatulence was not yet over, a 'thought' bubble began to wend its way to the surface of his mind: "The Greens are a fraudulent brand. There are not enough letters of the alphabet to encompass the image fraud this party is perpetrating on the electorate. It is simply not a party preoccupied with the environment." (Green by name, flaky by nature, 29/11/10)
A counter-thought, that this was about as original as arguing that the Labor Party is simply not a party preoccupied with the interests of workers, never occurred.
Before long Sheehan had emitted a string of anti-Green smears and jibes, one for each letter of the alphabet and all complete fizzers*, in a heavily stained and malodorous notebook he kept by the bed for nocturnal relief.
All except 'Z' had popped out effortlessly. 'Z' was a bit of a strain to say the least. Then, to tweak the words of the bumper sticker, shit happened - literally!
Beginning as a rather painful series of rumbles deep in the bowels of his consciousness, 'Z' finally propelled him through the door to the en suite and onto the porcelain throne therein, before emerging in one almighty clap of thunder and lashing its sides with steaming gobbets of melting chocolate: "Z: Zionism. Loathing Israel is an article of faith for the hard left. Thus Lee Rhiannon joined Sheikh Hilaly, a group of men shouting jihadist slogans, and a CFMEU contingent, at an anti-Israel rally in Sydney after the attack on a flotilla heading for Gaza this year." (ibid)
What a relief, thought Sheehan, yet another calumn below the belt!
[*"O: OBAMA. Oppose Building Any Manufacturing Anywhere."]
Inevitably, for the flatulence was not yet over, a 'thought' bubble began to wend its way to the surface of his mind: "The Greens are a fraudulent brand. There are not enough letters of the alphabet to encompass the image fraud this party is perpetrating on the electorate. It is simply not a party preoccupied with the environment." (Green by name, flaky by nature, 29/11/10)
A counter-thought, that this was about as original as arguing that the Labor Party is simply not a party preoccupied with the interests of workers, never occurred.
Before long Sheehan had emitted a string of anti-Green smears and jibes, one for each letter of the alphabet and all complete fizzers*, in a heavily stained and malodorous notebook he kept by the bed for nocturnal relief.
All except 'Z' had popped out effortlessly. 'Z' was a bit of a strain to say the least. Then, to tweak the words of the bumper sticker, shit happened - literally!
Beginning as a rather painful series of rumbles deep in the bowels of his consciousness, 'Z' finally propelled him through the door to the en suite and onto the porcelain throne therein, before emerging in one almighty clap of thunder and lashing its sides with steaming gobbets of melting chocolate: "Z: Zionism. Loathing Israel is an article of faith for the hard left. Thus Lee Rhiannon joined Sheikh Hilaly, a group of men shouting jihadist slogans, and a CFMEU contingent, at an anti-Israel rally in Sydney after the attack on a flotilla heading for Gaza this year." (ibid)
What a relief, thought Sheehan, yet another calumn below the belt!
[*"O: OBAMA. Oppose Building Any Manufacturing Anywhere."]
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Only in Today's Australian
A slimeball of 'quality' Murdoch journalism from British radio presenter, journalist and author, Libby Purves, OBE ('for services to journalism'). Purves' racist, Islamophobic bile is beautifully complemented by her hilarious cocking-up of the Arabic language:
"The likelihood is that the vast majority of material being hurled into the limelight by the insouciant Julian Assange will not reveal any actual treacheries or scandals. It will consist mainly of what diplomats call 'frank assessments'. And while Britain can probably forgive and forget a few frank assessments... there is real fear that the touchier countries around the world will be outraged. Especially in the Muslim nations, where it seems to be all right for pretty senior voices to refer to us as kuffa* (non-believers), dogs, infidels, etc, whereas the slightest reservation about anything Islamic is considered an atrocity second only to the Crusades." (Leaking 'frank assessments' a risk to peace, The Times/The Australian)
Batten down the hatches! It's the Danish cartoons all over again!
[*kuffa is the Arabic word for edge, seam, hem, border. The word our 'quality' journalist was looking for was kuffar]
"The likelihood is that the vast majority of material being hurled into the limelight by the insouciant Julian Assange will not reveal any actual treacheries or scandals. It will consist mainly of what diplomats call 'frank assessments'. And while Britain can probably forgive and forget a few frank assessments... there is real fear that the touchier countries around the world will be outraged. Especially in the Muslim nations, where it seems to be all right for pretty senior voices to refer to us as kuffa* (non-believers), dogs, infidels, etc, whereas the slightest reservation about anything Islamic is considered an atrocity second only to the Crusades." (Leaking 'frank assessments' a risk to peace, The Times/The Australian)
Batten down the hatches! It's the Danish cartoons all over again!
[*kuffa is the Arabic word for edge, seam, hem, border. The word our 'quality' journalist was looking for was kuffar]
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