http://www.salaam.co.uk/news Salaam News - the muslim spin on the events that matter Glorification of torture and terrorism is becoming common amongst Britain's closest allies. Following on from glorifying Israeli terrorism by Tipi Livni, Karl Rowe does the same for torture. Western civilisational values are being coated by hubristic barbarity. Instead of dealing with these glaring cases of barbarity, officialdom is pre-occupied in framing laws for perceived thought crime(s) by Muslims! Unlike thoughts, we know that glorification of on-going hubristic barbarity has led to Abu Ghuraib, Guantanamo Gulag, Bagram, war crimes in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in Palestine and many other indefensible atrocities. Their perpetrators need to be brought to book instead of being sheltered and feted. Saturday 13th March 2010 Law http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257055 Iran's capture of its most wanted man, Abdulmalik Rigi, is a setback for the subversion efforts of the United States in Iran's southeast. The seamless apprehension of the Jundallah leader also sends an unmistakable message that in the intelligence wars of the Middle East, Tehran has once again seized the initiative, and that it can strike against American secret agents operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Monday 15th March 2010 Politics http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257061 Israel is trying to impress on America's first Afro American President that Biblical ethnic cleansing of Palestine is a shared goal of white zionists - Chrtistian and Jewish. Obama has been warned to limit his justice rhetoric within this barbaric over-arching objective if he is to survive his Presidency. The coming AIPAC annual renewal of oath of fealty to this hubristic barbarity will tell if Obama is made of sterner stuff. Monday 15th March 2010 Politics http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257063 Afghans can be forgiven if they think that the NATO "freedom" crusaders are simply glorified murderers. A night raid carried out by US and Afghan gunmen led to the deaths of two pregnant women, a teenage girl and two local officials in an atrocity which Nato then tried to cover up. The operation on Friday, February 12, was a botched pre-dawn assault on a policeman’s home a few miles outside Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, eastern Afghanistan. In a statement after the raid titled “Joint force operating in Gardez makes gruesome discovery”, Nato claimed that the force had found the women’s bodies “tied up, gagged and killed” in a room. Saturday 13th March 2010 Politics http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257056 Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Sweden after the parliament voted narrowly to describe as genocide the killing of Armenians in World War I. The Turkish government condemned the resolution, saying it was "based upon major errors and without foundation". The Swedish government opposed the opposition resolution but it passed by one vote after some MPs voted against party lines. It comes days after a US congressional panel passed a similar resolution. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a visit to Stockholm scheduled next week and issued a statement criticising the vote. Friday 12th March 2010 Politics http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257054 Although final results are two weeks away, it is emerging from the March 7 elections that Iraq's era of radical political groups is over. The battle for power is likely to come down to a showdown between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and former premier Iyad Allawi - a struggle neither is likely to win. Monday 15th March 2010 Politics http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257062 "In our current armed conflicts, there are two U.S. drone offensives. One is conducted by our armed forces, the other by the CIA. Every day, CIA agents and CIA contractors arm and pilot armed unmanned drones over combat zones in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including Pakistani tribal areas, to search out and kill Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. In terms of international armed conflict, those CIA agents are, unlike their military counterparts but like the fighters they target, unlawful combatants. No less than their insurgent targets, they are fighters without uniforms or insignia, directly participating in hostilities, employing armed force contrary to the laws and customs of war. Even if they are sitting in Langley, the CIA pilots are civilians violating the requirement of distinction, a core concept of armed conflict, as they directly participate in hostilities....... If the CIA civilian personnel recently killed by a suicide bomber in Khost, Afghanistan, were directly involved in supplying targeting data, arming or flying drones in the combat zone, they were lawful targets of the enemy, although the enemy himself was not a lawful combatant. It makes no difference that CIA civilians are employed by, or in the service of, the U.S. government or its armed forces. They are civilians; they wear no distinguishing uniform or sign, and if they input target data or pilot armed drones in the combat zone, they directly participate in hostilities -- which means they may be lawfully targeted." Gary Solis in The Washington Times Saturday 13th March 2010 Law http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257057 The chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, has been summoned to appear next week before an inquiry into devastating riots in 2002. Mr Modi faces questions over the murder of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. "Yes, we have summoned Mr Modi," the head of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) RK Raghavan told the BBC. "On 21 March, we will ask him a few questions. Then we will send a report to the Supreme Court," he said. The court set up the inquiry into the riots in March 2008. Friday 12th March 2010 Politics http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257053 Balming the financial crisis on accounting gimmicks rather than systemic flaws has become fashionable. The underlying "fraud" undepinning "free market" capitalism is once again laid bare in the detailed report on the collapse of leading US investmetn bank, Lehman Brothers. Unlike petty thieves, these gigantic establishment frausters are expected to return to lucrative jobs after a "decent" pause. Most others are still pocketing massive bonuses for their contribution to society! Friday 12th March 2010 Business http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257051 Between 1970 and 2002, the continent of Africa received some $540 billion in loans. However, a U.N. study showed that, despite repaying some $550 billion in principal and interest over the same period, there was still some $295 billion outstanding. There is an urgent need to change the whole structure of our current financial framework if a sustainable solution is ever to be realized. We need to move away from a monetary system based on debt and interest payments that enables control to be kept in the hands of a small and prosperous elite. Above all, if there is to be any real hope for global development and an end to poverty, it is imperative that developing countries regain their sovereignty and dignity, free from the crippling dependency the burden of debt has placed on them. Monday 15th March 2010 Business http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257060 Police forces were threatened with legal action today as the Government's equality watchdog said black and Asian Britons were still being unfairly targeted for stop and searches. Most constabularies in England and Wales are continuing to use the powers "disproportionately" against ethnic minorities, a review by the Equality and Human Rights Commission concluded. In London, almost 20% of black people were stopped and searched between 2007 and 2008, the figures showed. Commission chiefs wrote to forces warning they could potentially be sued over possible breaches of the Race Relations Act. Monday 15th March 2010 Law http://www.salaam.co.uk/news/index.php#257064