Seven British aid workers held captive on a ship in the Libyan sea have been told they may be treated as “terrorists” when they reach land, sources on board said today. (The Independent)

Hostages taken, aid blocked – and that’s just on the “peace” ship

“Ship captain went nuts and  kidnapped the convoy members…”

If you can’t broker peace on your own peace flotilla, I’m not sure you have much to teach the Israelis:

Greek commandos boarded a Gaza-bound aid ship—whose mission went awry and turned into a hostage situation after a dispute with the ship’s captain—in a harbor off the country’s coast Friday, an official with the activist organization sponsoring the vessel said.

After the captain’s argument with an Egyptian broker, the ship left behind the aid group’s cargo and a large group of volunteers. (Andrew Bolt)

Aid for Libya….?

Related links:

• Gaddafi Flies Italian Women to Libya for ‘Cultural Tours’…
• British Airman in Uniform Denied Cab Service…

Praising ‘Tolerance’ while Churches Burn

“It is hard to imagine that President Obama would be praising the tolerance of a Christian nation if it had witnessed the burning of 700 mosques since 1998.” (ROP)

Give generously:

Indonesia tsunami death toll tops 300

Not enough Islam, Allah wanted them dead:

THE death toll from a tsunami that struck western Indonesia this week rose to 343, with another 338 people still missing, a disaster official said Thursday. (Courier Mail)

• Warning system failed, infidels to blame
• Allah’s wanted them dead because the villagers didn’t implement sharia properly….

Volunteers search for victims of the Mount Merapi eruption at Kinahrejo village in Sleman, on October 27, 2010, near Yogyakarta, Indonesia. (The Gazette)

Indonesia: 700 churches attacked in past decade

(Source)

Jakarta, Bandung, and Bogor:

Some 700 Catholic and Protestant churches have been attacked in Indonesia over the past decade, according to the Indonesian Christian Communication Forum. Between October 12 and October 17, a Catholic parish was attacked, another was threatened with attack, and a Protestant church was burned down.

“The violence and attacks, against Christian churches of all denominations, has grown in recent years and now in the past several days,” said Bishop Johannes Pujasumarta of Bandung, secretary general of the Indonesian bishops’ conference. “Those responsible are small radical Islamic groups that are sowing panic among our people, especially in the Dioceses of Jakarta, Bandung, and Bogor. They are minority groups, but they should be stopped. The violence also increases the indifference of the civil authorities and police, who shrug off the violence. We demand more attention and protection for the Christian communities and that such acts may not remain unpunished.”

3% of the nation’s 224.9 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics; 6% are Protestant and 86% are Muslim, making Indonesia the country with the largest Muslim population.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window

Rise in attacks and violence against churches, Christians concerned (Fides)

Adding insult to injury: Perhaps We Should Just Delete the Aid (Atlas Shrugs)

“I wanna bite the hands that feed me, I wanna bite that hand so badly …Elvis Costello, Radio, Radio”

This is the poisonous fruit of an adminstration ashamed of our greatness, embarrassed by our achievements. The jihadist country of Pakistan, which works against us and aids the devout who murder the moderates, the infidels, the kuffar, wants our kindness, but no reminder of whose goodness it is. How did it get there, by allah?

We don’t want no stinkin’ kaffir aid. Now give it to us! (in other words: pay the jiziya with willing submission and STFU!)

A group of 11 prominent charities is preparing a letter calling on the US to remove logos on American-funded assistance in Pakistan.

By Alastair Lawson  BBC News

The letter, signed by charities including Save the Children, Oxfam, and World Vision says that such “branding” of aid jeopardises their neutrality.

They say that this is especially dangerous in a country with numerous anti-American militants.

The letter will be delivered later this week in Washington, officials say.

All of this and more:

• Pakistan considers imposing tax on Nato supply trucks
• America should rebuild Pakistani highways used for NATO supplies …
• 500 oil tankers and supply containers for NATO troops go missing …

‘Highly sensitive’

It says that there are “strong indicators” that branding will attract violent attacks for both economic and ideologically-motivated reasons”.

The letter will be sent to the US government aid agency, USAID, by the InterAction group, a coalition of more than 160 humanitarian organisations working around the world.

International charities have for several years refrained from using their own logos in Pakistan because of the security risk.

However the US government, through USAID, requires non-governmental organisations that receive funding to “brand” aid with the agency’s handshake logo and the words “from the American people” in local languages.

On Friday Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove was killed in Afghanistan as US special forces tried to rescue her from kidnappers.

Save the Children Pakistan representative Mohammed Qazilbash told the BBC that the danger posed by such logos was especially apparent when displayed on rebuilt schools, reconstructed buildings, health posts, T-shirts, caps and vehicles.

“It is essential that the US considers this because the safety and security of our beneficiaries and partners in Pakistan is at stake,” he said.

“We are currently negotiating an alternative branding strategy with the US authorities,” he said.

In August the UN said it was reviewing security measures for its staff in Pakistan, after the Taliban warned foreign aid workers to stay out of the country.

There have been a number of attacks on aid workers in Pakistan in recent years, although none since devastating floods this summer.

In March militants killed six Pakistani staff working for World Vision in the north-west of the country.

Update:

Islam, a work in progress. Eliminating Indonesian culture is part of it:

• Indonesia: Muslim Hard-Liners Attack Shadow Puppet Shows, with Rocks and Swords

Geert Wilders:

“Whatever the reason is that Yudhoyono will not come to the Netherlands, I will not shed a tear. He earlier declared me persona non grata in Indonesia.”

And who is the loser here?

The Netherlands is also noted as one of Indonesia’s largest sources of aid for education, governance, water management and other areas.

However, none of that changes the fact that most Indonesians would like nothing more than to immolate gay-loving, prostitute riddled, drug smoking Holland with a few, if not many, nuclear weapons.

Blithely and admantly ignorant of this, The Netherlands continues funding and doing business with this Muslim hive. If ever there was a case of “feeding the crocodile”.

From the article: If the President had continued with his visit, he also would have been able to improve the Dutch understanding of Islam. As the leader of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation and its third-largest democracy, Yudhoyono has the credentials to speak on the subject of Islamic tolerance.

This clown wants to teach the Netherlands about tolerance?    (LOL)

Some samples of Indo tolerance here:

A moderate caning

• Puzzler: Religious intolerance rising among Indonesian Muslims
• Women caned for selling food during Ramadan in modern, moderate Indonesia
• American to appear in court on charges of blaspheming Islam in modern, moderate Indonesia

****************************************

The Stick to Beat the Dog

From the Gates of Vienna

We posted a couple of weeks ago about the kerfuffle caused by the Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands, who expressed displeasure about the possible influence exerted by Geert Wilders on the new Dutch government. The ambassador made his remarks in advance of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s planned state visit to the Netherlands.

Now it seems that Pres. Yudhoyono’s visit has been postponed, and under the most peculiar of circumstances. Our Flemish correspondent VH has compiled a report with the latest news, based on his translation from Dutch-language sources.

On Tuesday October 5, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono suddenly postponed [or “delayed”] his state visit to the Netherlands, which would have been from October 6 to October 8. The decision was because Indonesia had received information that Yudhoyono might be arrested in the Netherlands for alleged human rights violations. [source Elsevier] From the Jakarta Globe:

Announcing the cancellation of the trip at Halim Perdanakusuma airbase in East Jakarta on Tuesday with his plane waiting on the runway, Yudhoyono said it was a matter of national dignity. … Although he made up his mind just 45 minutes after receiving reports that the court hearing would open on Wednesday, he said he had consulted the vice president and several ministers over what to do.

The president in exile of the Republic of South Moluccas [RMS, pro-independence group] had filed a lawsuit [“Kort Geding”, or Summary Proceeding] against the Dutch State on Tuesday afternoon; the RMS would ask the court in the Hague for the arrest of the Indonesian President.

However, in addition to the fact that the President of Indonesia would have diplomatic immunity during his visit to the Netherlands, on Wednesday October 6 the court rejected the demand by the RMS and ruled that the Indonesian president may not be arrested on arrival in the Netherlands. “The court in the Hague on Wednesday rejected the claim by the exiled President of the Republic of South Moluccas (RMS) John Wattilete against the Dutch state.” The court assigned the costs of the lawsuit to the RMS.” [source Elsevier]

Indonesian President canceled State visit because of “the problem Wilders”

[Source Nederlands Dagblad, quotes and some links added by the translator]

There were more reasons for the cancellation of the state visit by Indonesian President Yudhoyono than the request for his arrest by the RMS. According to sources directly involved, the RMS case was only “the stick to beat the dog’’. That dog was especially “the Wilders problem”.

Indonesian President Yudhoyono is receiving increasing criticism at home for his cancellation of the state visit to the Netherlands. “Mind-boggling, short-sighted and unconvincing” said the Jakarta Post in an editorial, pruning the arguments of the President severely.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s decision to “delay” his trip to the Netherlands for fear of being arrested for alleged human rights abuses is both mind-boggling and short-sighted. His rationale is “unconvincing”; it was highly unlikely that the arrest would have taken place. From the Jakarta Post:

“It is a common practice in international diplomacy for nations to grant immunity to visiting foreign presidents. The government of the Netherlands said it would uphold Yudhoyono’s immunity and treat him as a most welcome guest. … The President’s decision, allegedly made to “protect the nation’s dignity”, quickly boosted the President’s standing and appeased the nationalist camp at home. In the long run, however, it will jeopardize the country’s relationship with the Netherlands. … The delayed visit was also regrettable as it prevented the President from obtaining the Netherlands’ written recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty, which would have automatically cleared a diplomatic hurdle that has existed since the Netherlands handed over the archipelago to the Indonesian government in 1949.

The Netherlands, which colonized Indonesia for more than three centuries, has never formally recognized the sovereignty of the Indonesian government, despite the 1949 roundtable conference that forced the Netherlands to surrender control of Indonesia.

If the President had continued with his visit, he also would have been able to improve the Dutch understanding of Islam. As the leader of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation and its third-largest democracy, Yudhoyono has the credentials to speak on the subject of Islamic tolerance. He could have also promoted Indonesia as a role model for Muslim countries. Islam in Indonesia is different from the conservative strain that is practiced in most Arab countries.

Last but not least, the President could have used the visit to boost economic cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands and tap more investment for Indonesia. According to the Indonesian Embassy’s website, the volume of trade between Indonesia and the Netherlands two years ago was US$3.9 billion and Indonesia enjoyed trade surplus of around $2 billion. … The Netherlands is also noted as one of Indonesia’s largest sources of aid for education, governance, water management and other areas. Given the significant amount of the Dutch investment and aid in Indonesia, the minor diplomatic mishap that occurred after the incident should have been prevented.”

Moreover, it is openly questioned whether it was only the lawsuit — in which the RMS demanded President Yudhoyono’s arrest — or whether other motives might have played a role. The Jakarta Globe headlines, for example: “Indonesian President Missed the Big Picture Yet Again in Canceling His Visit to Netherlands”.

… This week, he blasted the Netherlands and its judicial system, and also canceled a state visit, because some has-been Indonesian separatist group filed a case against him in a Dutch human rights court.

It didn’t matter that the sudden cancellation was a massive insult to Dutch Queen Beatrix, or that the Hague District Court summarily rejected the case or that Yudhoyono has diplomatic immunity. … the president said there might be an attempt to arrest him during his state visit. The key word here is “him.” Wouldn’t the first state visit to the Netherlands by an Indonesian president in some 40 years benefit the country, even if there were protesters there?

In his response to the criticism, President Yudhoyono went even further than in his earlier statements. The Dutch court hearing would be “unethical” and the hearing on the day of his arrival date “violates ethics and norms of a bilateral relationship’’ as he defended his decision again a few days ago.

But also on the Dutch side there is the belief that other motives played an important role at the background. The Summary Proceeding [“Kort Geding”] by the RMS indeed was the direct reason for the visit to be postponed, but — as a source directly involved in the consultations around the state visit told Dutch newspaperNederlands Dagblad — that Summary Proceeding still was “a stick to beat the dog”.

For some time the Dutch had realized that President Yudhoyono would rather postpone his visit, after Wilders had gained a major political role due to his election victory. For as President of the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, the Indonesian President would be visiting the country of one of the most outspoken anti-Islamic politicians in the world. Moreover, the timing of the visit clearly became ever more uncomfortable because of the leading political role played by Wilders [in the formation of the new government —translator].

When the latter, after an unfortunately worded statement by the Indonesian Ambassador Habibi [who indicated that voters who preferred Geert Wilders’ party “suffer from a fear psychosis” — see also Clowns and Psychotics at GoV] advocated that the Indonesian ambassador should “have his ears cropped diplomatically”, the revulsion became even greater. Nevertheless, in the opinion of those involved, Yudhoyono would still have come to the Netherlands, if it the court case by the RMS hadn’t provided the Indonesian government with an excellent occasion to immediately also deal with “the Wilders problem”.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
Wilders responded this Saturday via Twitter: “Whatever the reason is that Yudhoyono will not come to the Netherlands, I will not shed a tear. He earlier declared me persona non grata in Indonesia.”

Nothing to do with Islam:

Indonesian “Militants” are targeting army & police

“They have a long-term strategy of building an Islamic state, and Muslim officials who hinder that objective are the enemy and need to be confronted,”  said Sidney Jones, a leading international expert on Southeast Asian terrorist groups.

Muslim militants wearing black masks stormed the tiny Hamparan Perak police precinct in western Indonesia’s North Sumatra province and emptied their assault rifles – riddling three officers’ bodies with bullets and shining a spotlight on the country’s changing face of terrorism.

Extremists, better known for targeting Western nightclubs and hotels, are now going after Indonesia’s government. And for the first time in more than a decade, the army has waded into the fight.  (Thanks to Cecilie & AP)

When only 7c in each dollar actually gets out of Australia  93% is used to run so called charity agencies. These parasites are a business and making big money out of donations to pay their staff big salaries.

Bishop warns of aid naivety

7News

A senior Christian leader has warned much of the aid flowing into Pakistan to help deal with massive flooding may never be used for relief.

Retired Anglican bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, a Pakistani national who has spent much of his life in Britain, is visiting Australia to discuss issues around Islam and its growth in the West.

“The misery that the (Pakistani) people are in has been caused, to some extent, by corruption and incompetence,” Bishop Nazir-Ali told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

Much of Pakistan is still under water.

The floods began six weeks ago after exceptionally heavy monsoon rains.

They’ve washed over at least 3 million hectares of farmland, destroyed or damaged more than 1.8 million homes and covered an area larger than the Northern Territory.

“How do you expect that corruption and incompetence to deliver relief,” Bishop Nazir-Ali said.

“I think it is good to make generous gestures but I think it’s also very important to make sure at least some of this money actually gets to the people who are really suffering.”

The former bishop of Rochester, Kent, Bishop Nazir-Ali has been a leading spokesperson against what he describes as the “triple jeopardy” of aggressive secularism, radical Islam and a misplaced understanding of multiculturalism.

He has spoken strongly against the introduction of Sharia law to sit alongside statutes.

Bishop Nazir-Ali has further engagements in Adelaide and Perth before leaving Australia.

Paki Muslims complain USA isn’t giving enough aid

• Christians in Pakistan missing out on flood aid, bishop warns
• Pakistan: Flood aid withheld from “non-Muslim” Ahmadis as country depends on aid from… non-Muslims
• Pakistan relents, accepts flood aid from India

Always on the wrong side of the tracks, always generous with other peoples money, Willie Clitman’s wife Shrillary, who generously donated $ 10 dollars for the Paki flood victims (after spending 3 million on her daughters wedding) is trying to warm up the long debunked “Climate Change” hysteria in order  to  transfer wealth from your pocket to her favorite despots in the third world.

Clinton Invokes Climate Change Debate to Explain Pakistan Floods

FoxNews

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other officials are pointing to the devastating floods in Pakistan and other extreme weather events as signs that climate change is getting worse.

Clinton, in an interview with Pakistan’s Dawn TV, said “there is a linkage” between the recent spate of deadly natural disasters and climate change.

“You can’t point to any particular disaster and say, ‘it was caused by,’ but we are changing the climate of the world,” she said.

I think we have to change the government instead!

FoxNews has more!

In other news:

• Obamas Hit the Beach in Martha’s Vineyard (his sixth holiday this year!)
• Obama Faces Middle East ‘Train Wreck’ as Iran Builds Nuclear Program
• 73 Days to Decide: Will Religion Decide November?
• Why Some Americans Question Obama’s Christianity

Blah blah on Fox: Why Some Americans Question Obama’s Christianity

The Black Holes of Pakistan:

Earthquake aid millions spent elsewhere

AFP/ thanks to Mullah

MORE than £300 million ($520 million) of aid to help rebuild parts of Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake was diverted to other projects, a British newspaper has claimed.

The Daily Telegraph, citing unnamed senior Pakistani officials, said there were fears this diversion of funds would put off foreign donors from giving money to help 20 million people currently affected by heavy floods. More>>

” 60 Billion in Weapons Sales to Arabs will Not Change Balance of Power in the ME”

The United States has approved a long list of arms sales to friendly Arab countries in the Persian Gulf aimed at countering Iran’s growing influence in the region.The unprecedented sales could reach over $60 billion in pending deals with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

RELATED:

The largest deal is the possible sale of 82 F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia for $30 billion.

The deal has caused some concern within Israel which is reportedly in a dialogue with the Obama administration regarding its commitment to retain the IDF’s qualitative military edge in the region. J’Post

Here is the boilerplate statement, mandated by U.S. law,  that have or will  accompany the announcements of  $60 billion in American weapons to the  Arabs:

“The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not affect the basic  military balance in the region.”

It is important to note that when Congress required many years ago that  sales “will not affect the basic military balance in the region”, the  legislation did not establish any specific methodology for making this determination.

As a result, we have reverse logic: we are making the sale, therefore since we are making the sale it “will not affect the basic military balance in the region”.

Now here is the puzzler:  if $60 billion in American weapons “will not affect the basic military balance in the region” then what does this tell us about the quality and effectiveness of the American weapons?

Could you imagine how the Arab customers would react if they thought that the American statement that their purchase of tens of billions of dollars of  weapons “will not affect the basic military balance in the region” was true?

But they know better.

They know that it is boilerplate language included in the announcement without a second thought.

Question:  Both the House and Senate have subcommittees that are empowered to follow these things.

#1. Why hasn’t a maverick member of these subcommittees taken the requirement of a methodology to seriously examine the impact of a given sale  before the issuing of the “will not affect the basic military balance in the region” statement as a project?

#2. Why hasn’t one of the pro-Israel groups with lobbyists on the Hill taken on this issue?]

Because we all know that ‘jihad’ means peaceful inner struggle. If we give them enough money, weapons, free education and western technology, if we build them a few more mosques and send them free food they will really start to like us and we’ll get along swimmingly:

Yemeni cleric: “The Islamic nation will not stand by with its arms crossed in the face of these Crusades”

Al-Zendani, or al-Zindani as he is styled in other reports, grounds his call to arms in explicitly Islamic terms. Will any Western spokesman for the Religion of Peace™ step forward to refute his martial and bellicose vision of Islam? What do you think? “Yemen Qaeda chiefs killed in air strike: official,” by Hammoud Mounassar for AFP, January 15:

[...] In a Friday sermon, meanwhile, powerful cleric Sheikh Abdulmajeed al-Zendani said it would be “a religious duty dictated by God” to defend Yemen through jihad, or holy war, if it is occupied by a foreign power. [...]“From the moment the enemy invites itself onto our territory and occupies us, our religion imposes (the obligation of) jihad on us,” said Zendani, whom the US administration labels a “global terrorist.”

“It is a religious duty dictated by God,” he said during his sermon.

“This order of God cannot be annulled by anyone… not a king, not a president, not ulema (Muslim scholars),” Zendani added.

Yemen’s council of clerics, which includes Zendani, had made a similar call for jihad on Thursday if foreign forces join the fight against AQAP.

“If any party insists on aggression, or invades the country, then according to Islam, jihad becomes obligatory,” said a statement signed by 150 clerics.

The clerics stressed “strong rejection of any foreign intervention in Yemeni affairs, whether political or military.”

They also rejected “any security or military agreement or cooperation (between Yemen and) any foreign party if it violates Islamic sharia (law)” and the “setting up any military bases in Yemen, or in its territorial waters.”

On Friday, Zendani urged Arab and Muslim states to support Yemen “before a catastrophe occurs.”

“The Islamic nation will not stand by with its arms crossed in the face of these Crusades,” he added.

“To defend ourselves and defend our country and our territory, we only fear God… And we are confident in victory,” he said to cries of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater)….

This is in line with the Islamic doctrine that jihad becomes obligatory upon all Muslims whenever a Muslim land is attacked. (Provocations by Muslims from that Muslim land don’t factor into this equation — if the non-Muslim enemy strikes back, that constitutes an invasion of Muslim land.) All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence agree that when a non-Muslim force enters a Muslim land, jihad becomes the individual obligation of every Muslim (fard ‘ayn) rather than a collective obligation of the entire umma, from which one is released if others are taking it up (fard kifaya). Bulghah al-Salik li-Aqrab al-Masalik fi madhhab al-Imam Malik (“The Sufficiency of the Traveller on the Best Path in the School of Imam Malik,”) says this:

Jihad in the Path of Allah, to raise the word of Allah, is fard kifayah [obligatory on the community] once a year, so that if some perform it, the obligation falls from the rest. It becomes fard `ayn [obligatory on every Muslim individually], like salah and fasting, if the legitimate Muslim Imam declares it so, or if there is an attack by the enemy on an area of people.

The Hanafi, Maliki, and Shafi’i schools of Sunni jurisprudence further declare that jihad, once it is fard ‘ayn, is no different from prayer and fasting — in other words, to engage in warfare with non-Muslims in that case is a religious devotion that cannot lawfully be evaded. Hashiyah Ibn `Abidin, an authoritative text of the Hanafi school, says that jihad is “fard ‘ayn if the enemy has attacked part of the Islamic homeland. It thus becomes an obligation like salah [prayer] and fasting which cannot be abandoned.”

Still wondering which side he’s on? Still not sure on whether he is a Muslim or not?

OBAMA TO STIMULATE THE JIHADIST ECONOMY/the last crusade

Pamela nails it: The question isn’t whether Obama is a Muslim, the question is, what difference would it make if he was. What would he be doing differently if he were? The answer? Nothing. He would act exactly in this manner  and that’s what matters.

Feel stimulated already?

AFP/WASHINGTON — The White House Friday highlighted a new multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations, following a pledge made by President Barack Obama in his landmark speech to the Islamic world.

The White House said the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had issued a call for proposals for the fund, which will provide financing of between 25 and 150 million dollars for selected projects and funds.

• Charles Krauthammer: White House tactics go too far
• Obama offers multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations

Tundra Links:

• OBAMA: US CONSTITUTION IS FLAWED……!
• White House on Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing–Can’t Remember Who Murdered 241 Americans

The Global Technology and Innovation Fund will “catalyze and facilitate private sector investments” throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the White House said in a statement.

Eligible projects would advance economic opportunity and create jobs in areas like technology, education, telecoms, media, business services and clean technology, the White House said.

OPIC said sample projects could help foster the development of new computer technology or telecommunications businesses, or widen access to broadband Internet services.

Proposals must be submitted by the end of November, and managers of funds that make a final short list will make presentations in Washington in January.

Final selections will be announced next June.

In his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo last June, Obama argued that “education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century” and that under-investment was rife in many Muslim nations.

As well as the fund, Obama also said he will host a summit on entrepreneurship this year to deepen ties between business leaders in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.

In his speech on June 4, Obama vowed to forge a “new beginning” for Islam and America, promising to purge years of “suspicion and discord.”

In what may be one of the defining moments of his presidency, Obama laid out a new blueprint for US Middle East policy, pledged to end mistrust, forge a state for Palestinians and defuse a nuclear showdown with Iran.

New from MEMRI TV: The Emir of the Pakistani Taliban Beitullah Mahsoud: Pakistan Should Use Its Nuclear Weapons to Challenge the Enemies; Five Percent of Fighters in Afghanistan Are Our Men

                          Click here to view this clip.

         Pakistan demands unconditional aid from U.S.

                         
                        Pay now; ask for guarantees later

This after Pakistan frees the man who used to sell nuclear secrets to Iran and Libya – much to U.S. discontent. Now the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. is telling Obama that “assistance that is conditional is never good.” After all, when dhimmis used to line up to pay the jizya, which was supposedly meant to “protect” them, they never received “unconditional guarantees” that they would not be molested from their Islamic overlords; rather, they were humiliated and slapped on the nape of the neck to remind them of their place. Are those days, symbolically at least, back?

UPDATE: Robert writes in to note that “Your post reminds me that in ’04 or ’03 I met Hussain Haqqani and Stephen Suleyman Schwartz at CPAC, and they assured me that a large-scale theological rejection of jihadism and Islamic supremacism was just around the corner. I’m still waiting.”

“Pakistan wants unconditional aid from US: Haqqani,” from Times of India, February 7 via JW

LONDON: Pakistan wants aid from the Obama administration without any “strings attached”, the country’s ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani has said. 

Haqqani has said that “assistance that is conditional is never good.”

* Not good for Pakistan, that is. No aid should be given to these freaks…

His comments come in the wake of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s plan proposal to triple civilian aid to Pakistan but impose clear conditions on military assistance to ensure the money goes towards fighting terrorists rather than building up Pakistan’s defences against India.

But to this the Pakistani envoy had a poser. “There is no bullet that has been invented that Pakistan can be given to shoot at the terrorists that cannot be used in case there is a war with India,” he said in an interview to Financial Times.

At the same time in an effort not to get his nation on the wrong side of the new US administration, Haqqani pledged that Pakistan would focus on fighting its “primary threat.”

He outlined this threat as currently coming from terrorists and not from “eastern neighbour (India).”

What a relief! He “pledged” that this money will go against fighting the jihadis. OK, no excuse America: Pay up.

The Obama administration is expected to unveil its foreign and security policy as its Vice President Joseph Biden speaks at the international security conference in Munich in Germany.

Haqqani’s advice was that while Islamabad can discuss what the Americans would prefer… any conditional aids are not going to serve the US or Pakistani interest.

* Hugh comments:

Hussain Haqqani is a smooth fellow, one of the anglophone elite, well-versed in packaging for Western, especially Ameican audiences, the bottomless and outrageous demands of Pakistan, a country that has for decades led, first American generals (so impressed with those rectitudinous terry-thomased moustachioed ramrod straight generals, in the mode of Zia ul-Haq, and as well with the comforting simpleton’s notionn of Islam as “a bulwark against Communism” that served to shut down even the hint of worrying about what else Islam might be). In fact, the Americans should be reading Pakistan the riot act, and begin with that smooth man Hussain Haqqani. It was American aid that paid for A. Q. Khan’s project, his theft of Western secrets (he was not a real nuclear scientist but rather someone well-versed in espionage and escamotage), and the subsequent ISI-backed Science Project, leading to nuclear weapons for dangerous, meretricious, Pakistan, as well as the sharing of nuclear secrets with both Iran and North Korea. Thirty billion dollars, in military and economic aid, and debt relief, has been given since 2001.