Harry's Place

Did Iran’s foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki go against his regime’s longstanding position and accidentally confirm the Nazi Holocaust?

From an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel:

SPIEGEL: Mr. Foreign Minister, you are the senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran. You represent a nation that prides itself on a cultural history stretching back more than 2,500 years. Don’t you find it shameful that people are stoned to death in your country?

Manouchehr Mottaki: You come from a country that murdered millions of people during a tyrannical war, and you want to talk to me about human rights?

(Hat tip: Tehran Bureau)

This is a cross-post from Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens at Standpoint

A local Surrey newspaper has reported that extremists are disseminating leaflets in the local area, urging Muslims to kill the Ahmadiyya. 

From the Surrey Comet:

A police investigation was launched last month, after police saw leaflets being handed out calling on Muslims to murder Qadiyanis, a derogatory term for Ahmadiyya Muslim…

[...]

A teenage Ahmadiyya girl, who did not want to be named, said she was “shaken and scared” after being handed a leaflet written in Urdu saying: “kill a Qadiyani and doors to heaven will be open to you.”

Surrey is home to a large Ahmadiyya community, and is also the location of the Baitul Futuh Mosque, the largest Ahmadiyya mosque in the country.  It is no coincidence that extremists have targeted this area: they are attempting to sow distrust and sectarian hatred between the Ahmadiyya and other Muslim groups in the hope of creating a similar situation to that of Pakistan, where this small community is regularly persecuted.  The terrorist attacks on two of their mosques in Lahore, which killed 80 people, are perhaps the bloodiest examples of Islamist hatred for these people.  

This should be taken as a warning that extremist ideology continues to gain traction in Britain, and a reminder that the fates of Pakistan and Britain in this regard are inexorably linked; what happens there will eventually trickle through the many connections that are here in Britain.

According to the British Ahmadiyya’s national president, Rafiq Hayat:

Freedom of speech one thing, but incitement of hatred is another matter.  We want the authorities to nip this in the bud, otherwise this campaign of hatred against Ahmadi Muslims will grow into a threat against other moderate Muslims and indeed the wider society.

In giving this issue a broader context, he has hit the nail on the head.  Attacks, be they physical or verbal, on the Ahmadiyya should not be seen in isolation: the often murderous hatred of this community is part of the extremist ideology espoused by numerous Islamist organisations, including al-Qaeda.  In other words, those who want to kill the Ahmadiyya are not a long way from wanting to kill everyone else who doesn’t agree with them.

Because they are buying his book (The Times):

First-day sales for Tony Blair’s Downing Street memoirs suggest that his eventual donation to the Royal British Legion might well exceed the £4 milllion advance he has already promised to hand on to the veterans’ charity.

The book chain Waterstone’s said today that the memoir, A Journey, had enjoyed the strongest one-day sales it had ever seen for an autobiographical work. It sold more on its first day than Peter Mandelson’s The Third Man – the publishing sensation of the summer – notched up in its first three weeks.

“It’s outsold anything you care to mention: Russell Brand, Peter Kay, Dawn French, even Beckham,” said Jon Howells, a Waterstone’s spokesman. “All those people had fantastically successful books. This has knocked every one of those for six for sheer speed of sales.

Of course, the international picture is mixed, as you might expect:

Rankings on Amazon’s foreign websites show the book has also been a success in the United States, where it is currently the 12th best seller, and Canada, where it is 9th.

But it is proving less popular with readers on the Continent. It is just 366th in Amazon France’s best-seller list, while in Germany it is down in 529th place ahead of its publication there next week.

Guest post by Sarah

While looking up further coverage of Sarkozy and his statements about the Roma I came across an excellent post on Flesh is Grass.

I wholeheartedly agreed with the analysis of the problematic way the Roma were being treated– collectively, rather than on an individual basis:

Yes, [France] reserves the right to destroy unauthorised encampments. But there are doubts that France has been repatriating on a case by case basis as it is legally obliged to. And France has inexcusably accompanied lawful action with racist rhetoric. Hence the world’s eyes on France and the UN Commission’s emphasis on appearance.

But I felt some uncertainty about the discussion of travellers which followed. Some people who object to camps may be bigoted, but that doesn’t in itself mean that there may not be legitimate concerns, even if these are sometimes exaggerated by scapegoating or exacerbated by hostility on the part of the settled community. These people, just like the Roma, deserve to treated seriously, as individuals, and not dismissed as obvious racists.

Returning to the real problems faced by European Roma– David T drew my attention to a recent disturbing report which describes how Roma in Smolensk were indiscriminately photographed and fingerprinted.

Yesterday, August 26, 2010 I received a complaint from Roma about the recent police raid undertaken in Smolensk. As, the victims reported, police entered their house in the day time yesterday and wanted to take photos and to do fingerprinting of all members of the family. This family does not have any criminal records, however as one of the policemen stated: “We do what we are assigned to do. This is the decision of the General. He said that we need to do fingerprinting and photos of ALL Roma in Smolensk region.

Today, August 27, 2010 the police went to the markets of Smolensk and undertook their unlawful raid there. They were doing photos and fingerprinting on the spot. The violation of human rights is obvious.

Commenters on my previous post distinguished between ‘cultural’ and ‘ethnic’ Roma, asserting that they had no problem with those who made a contribution to society. (It is not reported whether the Smolensk police were equally discriminating.) But it seems that substantial barriers are placed in the way of children who might want to live more conventionally, and events such as the crackdown in Smolensk need to be scrutinised.

THIS IS A CROSS-POST FROM A RABBIT’S EYE-VIEW OF THE HYPERBOREAN NORTH.

I think I will give this a miss in the same way that I gave Radovan Karadic’s poetry a miss: Burma’s military ruler, Senior General Than Shwe has been revealed as a budding lyricist.

This was revealed in a recent interview by Mya Than San, a former propagandist for the Junta. Than Shwe provided not only the lyrics to his 1990s composition, “Our Motherland” but also the seminal “We Don’t Care About Economic Sanctions”, performed by the president of the Myanmar Music Association, Accordion U Ohn Kyaw.

Than Shwe and other bigwigs had been reported to be stepping down from their military positions in order to assume civilian positions following the upcoming elections should they be elected in upcoming elections. Even disallowing for contradictory reports, were Than Shwe to saunter through the revolving doors, he would continue to meet with a frosty reception from Washington DC.

With this considered, Than Shwe would be better advized to make-do with the assets he and his family are reported to be stripping from Burma rather than tout his skills as a lyrcist. Like dictators before him he has had a captive audience, and may fall by the wayside in an open market.

This and other thoughts have been preying on his mind, which likely is why he and an auspicious number of aides attended the Bodh Gaya, a major Buddhist shrine in southern India.

Even by the standards of the supertitious ruling clique in Burma, their Commander in Chief is particularly prone to numerology and animist thinking; as discussed by the Burma Digest which suggested that an understanding of his weak spots is called for.

Although, maybe his public relations department could have interceded when he designated two private aeroplanes as White Elephants.

That seems to be the conclusion of some in Sweden, and in Venezuela.

This is a cross-post from Carmel Gould at Just Journalism.

It really is sad that on the morning between Middle East massacre and peace talks a Palestinian commentator would use a platform at The Guardian to extol the virtues of Palestinian rejectionism. Ghada Karmi forecasts that Israel will scupper the up-coming direct negotiations with the Palestinians. But she’s quite happy about that because of the ‘real danger’ of an outcome which ‘falls far short of the needs of international law or elemental justice, and sets back the cause of Palestine for decades, if not for ever.’ In this way, Karmi construes, Israel is the Palestinians’ ‘saviour’.

Historically, she claims, ‘All peace proposals after 1967 were based on maintaining Israel as a regional power and forcing the Palestinians to settle for less than they were entitled to. They were repeatedly offered paltry settlements that legitimised Israel’s hold on most of their land and undermined their right of return. Had Israel agreed, the Palestinian cause would have been lost long ago.’

While the intention is doubtless to cast Israel as the villain, solely responsible for the Palestinians’ statelessness something else is revealed about why 62 years after the foundation of the State of Israel the Palestinians are still left with nothing: the fundamental Palestinian refusal to compromise. To Karmi, the Israeli Palestinian conflict is a zero sum game in which all Israeli offers are ‘paltry,’ and ‘rights’ and ‘the cause’ override the importance of things like Palestinian statehood, peace, jobs and bread on the table. Read more »

It isn’t often you would hear anyone here say “I agree with Iain Dale”, but he has a point tonight with his post tackling his “friend” Guido Fawkes who earlier this week broke the “story” about William Hague and Christopher Myers.

Dale argues rightly that the blog post  marks a bleak day for political blogging as Fawkes used it in what was clearly an attempt to smear or “out” Hague by revealing that the Foreign Secretary shared a room with his then driver Myers whom he later appointed as a tax payer funded Special Adviser.

In his defence Fawkes argues that his story was about questioning whether taxpayers should be paying the salary of someone who might be in a relationship with their boss. The evidence he uses to justify this is that the two shared a hotel room (something Hague has admitted happened “occasionally”) during the election campaign.  It is as, Dale writes, pretty flimsy evidence of an affair:

“So on the flimsiest of evidence a young man loses his job and the Foreign Secretary and his wife are forced to issue the most personal of statements, detailing miscarriages and a declaration on the state of their marriage.”

Myers has since resigned over “untrue and malicious” allegations made against him, according to the long statement put out by Hague. In the statement Hague denies Myers’ appointment was due to an improper relationship and that his marriage to wife Ffion was in trouble.

Hague also denies that he’s gay, which was of course the crux of what Fawkes was up to. You only have to look at the lewd cartoon that accompanied his post and its bubble of dialogue about coming on expenses. I have no time for Hague, but Fawkes’ scribbling was low. Read more »

Over at Stormfront, the ‘white nationalists’ and Nazis are weighing up the pros and cons of the EDL.

AngloSaxonSavage, a BNP supporter, has some interesting things to say.

The first stage in the ‘white nationalist’ battle is to fight Muslims:

I totally get what your saying, but what would you prefer ? Would you prefer it if we declaired war on Blacks, Muslims, Gays, Smack heads and everyone else all at the same time ? We/They would be called homophobic, racist, facist and everything else and we would be fighting a war on all fronts. I persoanlly know a gay bloke that hates muslims with a passion, islam is anti-gay and he hates the way they act, talk, speak and everything about them, but he cant bring himself to vote for the BNP because the BNP is anti-gay. Now in my opinion that is a shame, its one less vote for MY PARTY. By including gays in the EDL it makes the EDL look less fanatical, more modern, and not like the skiheaded neo-nazis who go around in groups beating up the ‘ poor immigrants’. By including blacks and indians ( not that ive ever seen any at a single demo ) makes the public sit up and take notice, it makes the public say “finally, a group that stands against the islamification of England without being racist about it” Read more »

Today is the day, the day that many of us with a fondness for buying political books have been waiting for: the publication of Tony Blair’s memoirs: A Journey. Frustrated as I am that my pre-ordered copy did not arrive in the morning post, I was delighted to be able to read some short edited extracts published on the book’s website.

For those who are not so enamoured with the idea of reading a book by our former prime minister but want a quick idea of what he has said, the BBC has published some key quotes on its website. I list a few of them below but the BBC has more:

IN POWER

On 2 May 1997, I walked into Downing Street as PM for the first time. I had never held office, not even as the most junior of junior ministers. It was my first and only job in government.

GORDON BROWN

Was he difficult, at times maddening? Yes. But he was also strong, capable and brilliant, and those were qualities for which I never lost respect.

ROWS WITH GORDON BROWN

I’m afraid I stopped taking his calls. Poor Jon [an adviser] would come in and say: “The chancellor really wants to speak to you.” I would say: “I am really busy, Jon.” And he would say: “He is really demanding it.” Then I would say: ‘I’ll call him soon.” And Jon would say: “Do you really mean that, prime minister?” And I would say: “No, Jon.”

9/11 ATTACKS

At that moment, I felt eerily calm despite being naturally horrified at the devastation, and aware this was not an ordinary event but a world-changing one. It was not America alone who was the target, but all of us who shared the same values. We had to stand together.

GEORGE W BUSH

I had come to like and admire George. I was asked recently which of the political leaders I had met had the most integrity. I listed George near the top. Some people were aghast… thinking I was joking. He had genuine integrity and as much political courage as any leader I ever met. He was, in a bizarre sense… a true idealist.

IRAQ WAR

I am unable to satisfy the desire even of some of my supporters, who would like me to say: it was a mistake but one made in good faith. Friends opposed to the war think I’m being obstinate; others, less friendly, think I’m delusional. To both I may say: keep an open mind.

As a bonus, for those interested in Tony Blair and his years in power, BBC2 shall broadcast a major interview with him conducted by Andrew Marr this evening at 7.00pm.

Exciting times!

Updates.

Kiran Stacey at the Financial Times has condensed 718 pages of Tony Blair’s book into five paragraphs. And they are a very amusing  five paragraphs.

Lucy Manning informs us via her tweet that “Waterstone’s says never seen anything like it for sales of political book.”