International Affairs: February 2006 Archives
The man CNS News says is likely to succeed Australian Prime Minister John Howard has told Muslims that if they want to live under Islamic law they should leave the country.
Anyone wanting to live under Islamic law (shari'a) might feel more comfortable living in countries where it is applied, such as Saudi Arabia or Iran, federal Treasurer Peter Costello said in an address to the Sydney Institute, a think tank.In a pledge of allegiance, immigrants taking on Australian citizenship declare: "I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect and whose laws I will uphold and obey."
Costello said that anyone "who does not acknowledge the supremacy of civil law laid down by democratic processes cannot truthfully take the pledge of allegiance. As such they do not meet the pre-condition for citizenship."
Any Muslim planning to immigrate to Australia should first consider its values.
"Before entering a mosque visitors are asked to take off their shoes," Costello said. "This is a sign of respect. If you have a strong objection to walking in your socks don't enter the mosque.
"Before becoming an Australian you will be asked to subscribe to certain values. If you have strong objection to those values, don't come to Australia."
So to you multiculturalists out there, yes, there certainly are things Americans can learn from other countries.
Don't doubt that Muslims want to enact shari'a everywhere, and being allowed to set up Islamic courts in their "own" communities would be a foot in the door.
The American military is still working hard to find and free three employees of Northrop Grummman who were taken hostage by Columbia's FARC and are the longest-held American captives in the world.
U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is working to bring home three Northrop Grumman [NOC] employees held hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Colombia, according to the commanding general."We are working every day to find those three people," Gen. Bantz Craddock, SOCOM commanding general, said at a Defense Writers Group breakfast yesterday.
The Northrop Grumman employees represent "the longest held U.S. political captives anywhere in the world" and have been held for three years as of Feb. 13, Craddock said.
Pray for the safety of Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell and for comfort for their families.
I'm glad that the recent controversy about turning American port operations over to the United Arab Emirates has spurred greater concern for the security of our seaports. Regardless of who operates them, we need to be inspecting far more than the current 6% of containers. As for the controversy itself, I'm surprised that President Bush and his political advisors didn't see this bulldozer coming. Why give the Democrats an easily-won national security issue? The President should have recognized that putting a terrorist-harboring nation in charge of our ports is a Bad Idea -- that's a no brainer. It seems inevitable that Congress will block the move and the President will have to change positions, so he'll end up looking weak and foolish. Oh well, everyone makes mistakes, but this seems to be a particularly dumb one.
Perhaps one of the strangest aspects to the ongoing Muslim cartoon farce is the reversed roles assumed by the United States and Russia.
Inserting itself into a dispute that has become a lightning rod for anti-European sentiment across the Muslim world, the United States sided with Muslims outraged that the publications put press freedom over respect for religion."These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims," State Department spokesperson Kurtis Cooper said in answer to a question.
"We all fully recognise and respect freedom of the press and expression, but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable."
"Not acceptable"? The United States government will not "accept" such publications? Interesting claim. Meanwhile Russians appear to value freedom of speech a bit more highly:
A Moscow museum has announced it will exhibit the entire series of cartoons of Mohammed that have caused riots throughout the Islamic world.Yury Samodurov, director of the Sakharov Museum and Public Center, said on Russian television that the center was ready to organize a public exhibition of the cartoons satirizing the founder of Islam that originally were published in a Danish newspaper, Pravda.ru reported Monday.
"We must show the whole world that Russia goes along with Europe, that the freedom of expression is much more important for us than the dogmas of religious fanatics," Samodurov said.
I don't think the museum speaks for the Russian government, but still... I'm not aware of any major American papers printing the cartoons.
