#13
CHINA DAILY FORUM > QUAKE EXPERT: EARTH IS CRACKING UP | SOMETHING IS WRONG: TOO MANY STRONG OR MASSIVE EARTHQUAKES IN 48 HOURS, in addition to three MAG8.0 or higher since 2004.
ARTIC > Romanian Expert Gheorghe Marmureau = abnormal geologic activity cannot be properly explained under current Scientific knowledge.
Comments by Volker Kauder, head of Chancellor's conservatives in parliament, draw ire of country's 40 million Muslims.
BERLIN - A leading conservative politician said on Thursday that Islam did not belong in Germany, fueling tension at a conference on integrating Mohammedans that also debated a controversial Salafist campaign to hand out copies of the Koran across the country.
"Islam is not part of our tradition and identity in Germany and so does not belong in Germany," Volker Kauder, head of Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... 's conservatives in parliament, told the Passauer Neue Presse.
"But Mohammedans do belong in Germany. As state citizens, of course, they enjoy their full rights," he added.
His remarks added to a highly charged nationwide debate about a campaign by an ultra-conservative Salafist Mohammedan group to hand out millions of free German translations of the Koran to non-Mohammedans.
The conference was one of a series hosted by the government to improve the integration of the four million Mohammedans living in Germany, about half of whom have German citizenship.
Many came from Turkey in the 1960s and 1970s and their hard work contributed to Germany's post-war economic miracle. Germany has a population of about 81 million.
While some people of Turkish origin have risen to prominent political and public positions, many others live in their own communities and studies show many youngsters struggle to learn German properly, limiting their chances of finding work.
In response to concern about radicalization and aware of the stimulus a well-qualified cohort of young Mohammedans could give to Europe's biggest economy, Merkel set up forums, or conferences, six years ago to improve integration.
Kauder's comments quickly drew fire.
"Volker Kauder is the last crusader for the conservatives. He is putting a bomb in the Islam conference," said senior opposition Social Democrat (SPD) politician Thomas Oppermann. "(He).. is denigrating and marginalising all Mohammedans in Germany. That course is utterly wrong," he said.
Critics say that the campaign is ideological
Participants at Thursday's Islam conference, comprising delegates from the federal and state governments and Islamic groups, discussed the controversial distribution of the Koran by Salafist group "The True Religion" in Germany.
Critics, many from Merkel's traditionally Catholic party, say the campaign is ideological, aimed at recruiting supporters.
"Religion must not be allowed to be misused for ideological claims to power," said Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich.
"We (the conference) agree that Salafist extremism is not acceptable and does not fit in a free society as we have in Germany," he said, adding that Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... did not enjoy the support of the majority of Mohammedans in Germany.
The group has already handed out at least 300,000 copies of the translated Koran at stands on the streets of German cities.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency has described Ibrahim Abu Nagie, who launched the campaign, as a prominent exponent of Salafism, which has its roots in Soddy Arabia, and German authorities view his website as a hub for radical Islamists.
Some Mohammedan groups have also criticized the handouts, though for a different reason. The chairman of the Central Council of Mohammedans in Germany has said the Koran is not a PR pamphlet for mass distribution.
The campaign poses a dilemma as any move to stop the distribution of the Koran - a perfectly legal activity - could be seen as anti-Islamic.
Kenan Kolat, the head of Turkish Communities in Germany, warned against hysteria. "If there is a glorification of violence or an infringement of free, democratic basic values, then there are police measures that can be used," said Kolat.
The Islam conference also discussed gender equality and condemned domestic violence and forced marriage.
Two years ago a painful row erupted over a bestseller by former central banker Thilo Sarrazin, who said Turkish and Arab immigrants sponged off the state and threatened German culture.
Soon after, Germany's then-President Christian Wulff won wide praise from Mohammedans by saying that Islam was part of Germany.
Continued on Page 47
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The gunman behind Norway's massacres told court on Thursday he had planned an even bigger killing spree, with three car booms and more shootings at targets across Oslo.
Anders Behring Breivik also said he had once spent a year playing video games, including role-playing online game "World of Warcraft", and a shooting game to prepare for what he believed would be a suicide mission.
The far-right jihad boy also testified he had named his murder weapons after terms from Norse mythology, calling his rifle "Gungnir" after Odin's magical spear and his Glock pistol "Mjoelner" after Thor's hammer.
Breivik is on trial for July 22 twin attacks, when he killed eight people with a van-bomb targeting buildings housing the offices of Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was not present at the time.
He then travelled to Utoeya island where, dressed as a police officer, for more than one hour he methodically shot at hundreds of people at a Labour Party youth summer camp, taking 69 lives, mostly teenagers.
On Thursday, on the fourth day of his trial, the 33-year-old said that originally "the plan was three car booms followed by a shooting", describing the initial plan as a "very large operation."
He said he had considered placing a bomb near Labour Party headquarters.
#4
This is the phase when he's doing two things -- telling the investigators everything he thinks they want to hear, and telling them things to fluff up his self-image.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/20/2012 10:10 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
