Headlines 13/05/2016

Headlines

• Poll: Across Political Spectrum Massive Majority Reject Islam

• Sadiq Khan, London’s Muslim Mayor, Calls Trump ‘Ignorant about Islam’

• Russia Cries Foul as NATO Activates Missile Defence in Europe

Details

Sadiq Khan, London’s Muslim Mayor, Calls Trump ‘Ignorant about Islam’

The new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said on Wednesday that his election in the face of a divisive campaign highlighting his religion is a lesson to Donald J. Trump that Islam is perfectly compatible with Western values. Mr. Trump is “playing into the hands of extremists” and is “ignorant about Islam,” Mr. Khan said. “Daesh, ISIS, all those guys, hate the fact that I am mayor of London. Why?

Because it contradicts what they say, which is that Western liberal values are incompatible with Islam.” In a briefing at City Hall and then an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Khan, a member of the Labour Party, said that his Conservative opponent, Zac Goldsmith, “chose a Donald Trump approach and their campaign sought to sow divisions.” But London, he said, “chose unity over division, and a rejection of the politics of fear,” something that he suggested should encourage Hillary Clinton, the probable Democratic candidate for president.

Mr. Khan made no secret of his support for Mrs. Clinton and expressed confidence that she would “trounce” Mr. Trump. “As the father of two daughters,” he said, “I couldn’t imagine a better role model for them than a woman president of the United States.” Mr. Khan said he recognized there was a problem with Islamic radicalism at home and the ability of young people to become radicalized “in your bedroom via the Internet.” “Something is going wrong,” he said. “We have got a problem with people who are born and raised in Western cities, Western countries, but who are radicalized and turned into violent extremists.” More attention should be paid to giving people a “sense of belonging,” promoting role models and constructing programs, for example, to de-radicalize people in prison. [Source: New York Times]

Sadiq Khan is also ignorant about Islam, and his stance on supporting anti-Islamic activities is clear for everyone to see. It is expected that under Khan’s watch tougher anti-extremism measures will be enforced upon the Muslim community living in London.

Poll: Across Political Spectrum Massive Majority Reject Islam

The number of Germans who say Islam does not belong in their country has risen from just over half to more than 60 per cent in two years, as over a million mostly young Muslim men arrived last year. Only 34 per cent of respondents to a poll for Infratest Dimap on Thursday said that Islam belonged in their culture, with 60 per cent rejecting it in Germany. The poll revealed that 72 per cent worry about a terror attack in Germany, while only a quarter do not believe it will happen. However, the rise of anti-Islam views seems to have begun around 2010, prior to the attacks, and it only accelerated as the migrant crisis got underway last year. Six years ago, more than half of the German population were ready to embrace Islam when ex-President Christian Wulff infamously declared:

“Islam is now also a part of Germany”. However, a poll conducted in August 2014 showed the tables had turned, and the majority was now opposed to Islam. In that year, 52 per cent of respondents were against the idea that Islam is a part of Germany, while 44 per cent supported it. This latest polling of German opinion will re-enforce another survey released last week, which found almost identical results. The two results from different companies may suggest a strong trend away from Islam, rather than a one-off fluke result. A similar poll published in France last week found opinions were even harder there. There was a “total rejection” of Islam from across the political spectrum, with a further 47 per cent saying Muslims threatened France’s identity. In Germany both liberal and right wing voters were united in their rejection; 76 per cent of Free Democratic Party (FDP) voters, a liberal party, and almost all right wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters said Islam had no place in Germany. In the past couple of years, it is Chancellor Angela Merkel who has become associated with an embrace of Islamisation, rather than Mr Wulff, after she promised “no upper limit” to the number of Middle Eastern migrants. It might not a coincidence, then, that Breitbart London reported just yesterday that a new survey has shown 64 per cent of Germans do not want the Chancellor to stay on for another term. [Source: Breitbart.com]

Another poll confirming anti-Islamic views in major European countries is fast becoming the norm. Centuries old European hatred towards Islam is coming to the fore in all sections of the society. This is an ominous sign that the future of Europe’s Muslims is dark and bleak. Unless Europe’s Muslims unify and explain Islam to the indigenous population, their plight will worsen.

Russia Cries Foul as NATO Activates Missile Defence in Europe

Tensions between Russia and the West rose still further on Thursday when NATO declared that a missile defence site in Romania had become operational. A battery of American SM-3 interceptors, designed to shoot down incoming missiles, was activated at Deveselu military base. A similar facility is due to become operational in Poland in 2018. Only a handful of interceptors will be deployed at the two bases, enough to protect Europe against attack from a country possessing a small arsenal of nuclear missiles. The missile shield would be of minimal use against Russia, which has about 300 inter-continental ballistic missiles on land and scores more deployed on submarines. Nonetheless, Russia claims to sees the missile defence plan as direct threat to the deterrent power of its own nuclear arsenal. “From the very outset, we kept saying that in the opinion of our experts the deployment of an anti-missile defence poses a threat to Russia," said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. He described how President Vladimir Putin had "repeatedly asked who that system was working against and who it would be working against in the future”. NATO had replied that the missile shield was designed to protect against a possible future threat from Iran. But Mr Peskov pointed out that last year’s agreement with Iran was supposed to have removed the possibility of the country obtaining a nuclear arsenal. “Now we know that the situation involving Iran has changed cardinally,” said Mr Peskov. “But the questions that have been repeatedly asked from Moscow, including those from President Putin, have retained their relevance.” The plan to protect Europe from any future missile threat is based upon SM-3 interceptor batteries in Poland and Romania – both of which rely upon the advanced Aegis radar – and a new “X-band” radar station in Turkey. In addition, NATO warships carrying interceptors are deployed in the Mediterranean. [Source: Daily Telegraph]

The missile defence programme is intended to increase America’s conventional arms superiority and undermine the effectiveness of Russian nuclear weapons. Missile defence increases the prospect of a first strike by the West against Russia and this insecurity is likely to fuel an arms race.