Western Europe Fights Islamization

AN ARTICLE by Ryan Mauro, which listed European efforts to stop the encroachment of Sharia, and listed them all in one article, one after another, was like an inspiring tour de force. Check it out:

France took the first step in trying to stop the spread of Islam by banning any religious symbols from being worn in public schools, which included the headscarves worn by many Muslim women. This caused outrage in the Muslim world, and President Obama criticized it during his address in Cairo. Then in November, the Swiss voted in favor of banning the construction of minarets on mosques. This has sparked major movements on the continent to take further measures that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

One by one, the countries of Europe are placing restrictions on wearing the burqas and niqabs in government buildings or even in public. In April, Belgium became the first of them to pass an all-encompassing ban, and the French Council of Ministers followed by passing a similar ban that the National Assembly has just approved. It is expected to pass the Senate in September and then be signed by President Sarkozy.

Now, the Senate in Spain has passed a motion calling on the government to completely ban the wearing of the veil in public, and several municipalities in Spain have also placed restrictions on the burqa, although the parliament of Catalonia has switched its initial vote in favor of a ban. The Senate’s motion went further than what the ruling Socialist government wanted, which only sought to stop the veils from being worn in public buildings. There are growing movements with varying success in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Italy for placing restrictions on the face veils. A battle over Sharia courts should be expected in the coming years, which Norway is taking the lead on. The Foreign Minister, who is the head of a panel on integration, has just expressed his opposition to them, saying “desegregation is our society’s biggest social challenge.”

Political parties that express a hard line on assimilation and Islam are gaining in the polls. A new Poll poll found that bans on the face veils are supported by a strong majority of Western Europeans. Eighty-two percent of the French, 71 percent of the Germans, 62 percent of the British and 59 percent of the Spanish are in favor of such a law.

The Freedom Party of Geert Wilders came in third in last month’s general elections in the Netherlands, expanding their number of seats from nine to 24. Wilders rightfully said that his party was “the biggest winner today.”

Read the whole article (which is fully referenced): Europe's Backlash Against Islamization.

The Brave, Freedom-Loving Danish People

In an excellent recent article by Bruce Bawer, author of While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within, he wrote about what happened during and shortly after the "cartoon riots." The riots were caused by some cartoons published in a Danish newspaper. The drawing to your right is one of them.

Because Islam forbids the artistic representation of people, and because the cartoon implied that Muslims might be violent, Muslims across Europe rioted violently to protest. When it was all over, 187 people were dead. Over cartoons.

Newspapers in Britain, Sweden, Norway, and the United States almost universally failed to reprint these relatively mild cartoons. But not everyone cowered in fear. As Bawer writes:

My book came out in the midst of the Danish cartoon crisis. And during that crisis I saw things in Europe that — quite frankly — surprised and impressed me. I saw the editors of a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, stand up for freedom of expression in the face of worldwide rioting, vandalism, and murder by Muslims and contempt on the part of foolish Westerners. I saw a Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in defiance of the UN, the EU, and most of the “international community,” stand by that newspaper and refuse to meet with Muslim ambassadors who were out to intimidate his country and to force Sharia-like restrictions on Western liberties. I saw the people of Denmark, in overwhelming numbers, stand behind their prime minister in his refusal to yield to jihad. And I saw major newspapers across Europe reprinting the Jyllands-Posten cartoons in acts of free-speech solidarity.

The Danish are a brave, freedom-loving people who are a shining example to the free world. Read the whole article: Who's Sleeping More Deeply — Europe or America?

Combined Task Force 150

Jihadi pirates off the coast of Somalia are causing havoc on the high seas. Strange but true. Al-Qaeda is alive and well in Somalia. The group has seized dozens of ships and held them for ransom. They use speedboats equipped with rifles, grenades, scaling ladders to surround and board large ships. They operate hundreds of miles offshore, the smaller boats launching from larger "motherships."

They stand to earn 50 million dollars this year, the money going directly into the coffers of the most violent and aggressive Jihadi group in the world. Right now they are holding 14 ships and 300 crewmen for large ransoms. This kind of raiding and ransoming is very similar to how Mohammad financed early Islam (see more in the comments to this article).

But the Combined Task Force 150, an international naval force under the U.S. 5th Fleet command, has begun patrolling the area. They have already thwarted 12 pirate hijackings.

Read the whole story: Jihad on the High Seas.