Charles Moore skewers the dhimmi Jack Straw, whose misadventures have often shown up on this site, at the Telegraph (thanks to DFS):
When the row about the Danish cartoons of Mohammed broke, no one was quicker out of the traps than our Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw. He roundly condemned what he saw as the irresponsibility of their publication.It was not clear why Mr Straw felt the need to speak up. Britain has no responsibility for independent, democratic Denmark, nor for the European countries in which the cartoons were republished.
We do, however, bear considerable responsibility for Afghanistan. We helped invade it in 2001 to overthrow the Islamist Taliban government, and ever since then we have helped rebuild government and society there, including the framing of a new constitution. The other day, we sent yet more troops to help keep the uneasy peace. We boast, with some justice, that we have set Afghanistan free.
So the news that a Muslim is threatened with death by an Afghan court simply because he converted to Christianity should surely alarm Mr Straw. So far - and the case has been in the press for more than a week - we have heard nothing audible from him. President Bush has said he is "deeply troubled" by the case. Condoleezza Rice and many European governments have put strong pressure on the Afghan authorities to release the man, Abdul Rahman, citing Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes, in its definition of freedom of conscience, the right to change one's faith.
But Britain's mighty response has been left to one of Mr Straw's juniors at the Foreign Office, Kim Howells. Mr Howells has sought "urgent clarification" from Kabul.
It may provide Mr Howells with some of the clarification that he needs to point out that Mr Rahman's case was predictable. Islamic law (sharia) is enshrined in the new Afghan constitution. All the four schools of law in the majority Sunni Islam agree that the penalty for "apostasy" - abandoning one's Muslim faith - must be death. One states: "When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostasises from Islam, he deserves to be killed" and recommends that, when he is killed, he should be "neither given a bath, nor any funeral prayer". Much the same applies in Shia Islam.
Read it all.
The high place of Jack Straw in the Blairite movement is one of the mysteries of British politics. The man is not convincing, has a presence as depressing as his name, conveys in every possible way a sense of lack of purpose and personality. I loathe Blair and cordially detest his accomplices, but at least in other cases the existence of a personality and purpose can be detected - in some cases (e.g. Gordon Brown) detected rather too easily. Jack Straw is a man of straw in every sense; a mere nothing in jacket and tie.
Also of interest, from the same article, is a clear explanation of Islam's treatment of non-Muslims:
If The Telegraph understands this, and it isn't rocket science (or "rocket salad" as I heard to my delight not long ago), why can't our politicians? In the case of Jack Straw, this may be because there are around 25,000 Muslims in his constituency of Blackburn, Lancashire. Votes count.
The number of Muslims in Blackburn, Lancashire exceeds by 21,000 the number of holes found there in the Beatles song "A Day in the LIfe".
Other interesting things about Blackburn include the following:
1 Condoleeza Rice is going there soon. Jack Straw is going to take her to see Blackburn Rovers and introduce her to black pudding. Good to see they have both got their priorities right. Condi is "a huge Beatles fan", apparently.
2 It is very close to where I was born.
Yes its very close to where I was born to and where I was born is being overun by muslims why the locals go to watch the football match totally oblivious of reality, and keep voting in labour councils because we are proud working class northerners. Lots of the old cotton spinning towns have it bad now with the march of Islamic jihad. They would be powderkegs if it was not for people worrying so much who will win the champions league.
Jack Straws over Blackburn, well then im surprised he has not renamed it Rainbowburn. Thinking of going to Rainbowpool for my holidays.
Hey Blackpudding Bertha,
Blackpudding looks black Mother, even t'white bits look black. I love black pudding but the good stuff is not easily available at home.
Sorry, I digress.
Yet what Jack Straw cannot realise is that no matter how much he may court the Muslim vote they will never think highly of him.
The bruvverz of MUPACUK cordially and consistently loath him. http://www.mpacuk.org/content/view/1247/
"Jack “Blackburn” Straw is at it again, waging his war on Muslims. Our beloved Foreign Secretary when not berating Iran for pursuing an open, peaceful nuclear power generation programme, is busy helping the USA......etc etc."
'Interested' points out the articles accurate association of apostasy in Islam with treason.
The West can respond in essentially 3 different ways:
1) Oppose the implimentation of apostasy laws while disassociating the obvious intolerance with Islamic law and tradition (which is now the case)
2) Accept the premise that apostates must be killed under Islamic Law while continuing to accredit Islam the status of a religion (future prospects)
3) Use this issue to highlight the fact that Islam is not just a religion, but a political-military entity qualifying under the "foreign prince or potentate" clause that new American citizens are sworn to reject as they take the oath (fat chance)
Another anti Israel self hating Jew. Jack Straw has some Jewish ancestry. It's on the internet.
Granny W, despite being teased by poncy Islingtonians for being a black-pudding-loving, clog-wearing, pigeon fancying, flat capped, flat vowelled 'eee bah gum Lancastrian, the only time I have eaten black pudding was inside a won ton in a fusion restaurant in Upper Street. It tasted offally nice.
Cornelius good point. Islam does not separate religion and politics, so why do we persist in pretending that it does.
The nicest black pudding I ever had was as part of a full English breakfast in a hotel on the Halesowen Road in Birmingham.
That is indeed a good observation from The Telegraph.
Last Christmas I bought some "authentic" plum pudding to serve to my British guest. I put it on the stove to steam when they arrived. Well, an hour and a half later, it was no where near getting soft. My English friend peeped in and said, "Nah hun, you really gotta boil that sucker. Gotta keep adding water. Won't be ready for hours."
My first and last experiment with British pudding.
Rebecca, did your English friend really say "hun"? Usually when the English say "hun" they mean German.
You were unlucky. The English make the best puddings in the world. Generally you can't beat a Bakewell tart, but between that and a mouth-watering spotted dick it's a toss up.
[Heston voice]
BLACK PUDDING is made from BLOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
[/Heston voice]
VOTES, VOTES, VOTES, the only thing this government is interested in is in staying in government, whatever the cost to the people of this country.
It is the appeasing attitude of Blair and his party that directly led the bombings of London on 7/7. They were so concerned with losing the bloc vote of the muslims in this country they allowed wanted terrorists to hide and preach in the UK.
When the cartoons were published in Denmark I was astronished to see Jack Straw actually apologising to the muslim population, what the hell did it have to do with him? What arrogance to apologise on behalf of another countries paper. I feel sure that had Straw not stood there like a coward begging forgiveness the muslims would not have felt so righteous when they protested.
If Straw is so concerned about the rights of people and their religious belief, why isn't he standing up and apologising to all the non muslims for the Afghans treatment of this one convert sentenced to death?
Mark Steyn on the Abdul Rahman affair:
Facing down a culture where they talk like crazies
Quite right. And they are a bunch of nutters. Listent to this crazy:
God, according to the ontological argument of St Anselm was "that which nothing greater than which can be conceived". That would seem to be a reasonable definition of an all-powerful being that had created the heavens and the earth. Can one imagine that such a being could be humiliated by anything any of His creatures might choose to do? It reduces the creator to the level of a whiny kid in the playground.
In his otherwise good article, Charles Moore makes one small - but common - mistake. He wrote "the news that a Muslim is threatened with death by an Afghan court simply because he converted to Christianity..." Except, Abdul Rahman is not a muslim. He is a Christian. Beign a Muslim is a choice - it is not an irreducible and immutable human characteristic like being short or tall or male or female. A small point, but an important one I think - if we accept that Mr Rahman is still a muslim, we buy subtley into their poisonous perspective.
On February 8, Douglas Murray, the author of "Neoconservatism: Why We Need It", claimed that Jack Straw's son is a muslim convert. See http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000772.php
This is the pertinent paragraph:
"Straw has a Muslim convert son, and is in any case not a free man: blackmailed by his vast Muslim constituency, Straw sees no political choice but to appease and proclaim, as he did last week, that though we have the right to free speech we do not have the right to offend."
Can anyone confirm this? I have not been able to find anything to back Murray's claim. If true, it might help to explain why Jack Straw is adhering to blatant dhimmitude tactics.
"But Britain's mighty response has been left to one of Mr Straw's juniors at the Foreign Office, Kim Howells. Mr Howells has sought "urgent clarification" from Kabul."
Here's your clarification Howells, you idiot:
Rahman's head will be lopped off should he fail to revert to his former faith. Clear enough, bonehead? Pass it on to the Straw Man.
On a side note, It will be interesting to see how Bush's base will react (particularly Christian evangelicals) should the Afghan nutters succeed in killing Rahman. Declaring Rahman insane doesn't help extricate Bush either. In any case, it illustrates the futility of trying to make silk purse out of a sow's ear. Sharia and democracy are incompatible.
"...Yet what Jack Straw cannot realise is that no matter how much he may court the Muslim vote they will never think highly of him...."
He is a despicable labor-prop and a useful idiot at best. They will chew him up and spit him out before he even wakes up to realize that he is guilty of treason.
All Islam-Muslims and friends, social-Marxist elistist, et al, must have an Exorcism, the elimination of evils. If this happens there wouldn't be any Islam-Muslims & friends like Jack Straw to worry about.
Wasn't it "10,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire"?
Why doesn't Condi just go to the Albert Hall?
I have a pirate studio bootleg MP3 of The Beatles singing "Don't dig those Pakistanis taking all the peoples' jobs - get back to where you once belonged." An early take of Get Back - I got it from Lime Wire.
Perhaps they should see how many Muslims fit in the Albert Hall by stacking them up like the Thai police did.
No - no, DW staffers - I was only joking. Please don't delete me! I promise to try and make a valid point somewhere in this post. Just give me another chance.
The utter kind hearted naivety of the left is tragic and ultimately self destructive. I used to live in Slough (England), it was about one third Indian/Pakistani when I lived there, it's probably about 55% Indian/Pakistani now. I used to turn up to local Socialist Workers Party meetings who would hold urgent public meetings about combating the horror of racism and multicultural intolerance in Slough. About 25 white people would turn up, not a single "Asian" could be bothered. They were all probably too busy running small capitalistic businesses or creatively trying to get their relatives over from the subcontinent, into the social security English paradise. The biggest fears of the local Muslim community were not being bashed by nonexistent bands of fascists, but of going through the family shame of seeing a son of theirs in the company of a white girl, or a daughter in Western clothes.
A year or two later I rioted in London against the Conservative Party's poll tax - well it was unfair after all! Nowadays I am in a different part of the world, older and wiser (I think) and to my utter surprise I find myself actually thinking that I would probably vote Conservative if I were still in England. But then again, are the Tories the answer? After all, they used to throw around asylum visas like confetti.
Have I made a valid point yet? Probably not. Oh, here's one (but off topic)......
And in regards to a bigger Labour pillock - Tony Blair in an earlier DW article he was quoted as saying
“the Koran strikes me as a reforming book, trying to return Judaism and Christianity to their origins, rather as reformers attempted with the Christian Church centuries later.’
I just don’t get it! How does a book that insults Jews left right and centre, denies the crucifixion, the resurrection and the trinity (and a whole bunch of other things) bring back Christianity to its origins? The guy is a half wit, a liar or a closet Muslim – you decide. Yeah – Islam Macht Frei!
Obelisk1 - great point, very articulately put. Please (pretty please) email that off to Charles Moore - he sounds like the type of man that might listen.
Yojimbo it is not God who is humiliated it is they who are humiliated. To reject Islam is to reject them, and they are perfect because the Qur'an tells them so.
Arabs loathe and fear humiliation. Watch their news media, and try to count the number of times that they whine about being humiliated, it is the manhood culture - muruwwa. And a Muslim is an Arabized kaffir, once he adopts Islam he becomes and Arab, to be raised muslim is to be raised Arab.
God is a mere ventriloquist dummy.
And thus translate God is humiliated or angry, or.. to I am humiliated, angry or...
Someone said Jack Straw is Jewish is that true?
Timbo,
In what have become known as the 'Get Back Sessions'...(part of the miles of tape that never made it past the cutting-room floor as 'Let it Be' was being stitched together)...Paul does indeed make reference to Pakistanis as he sings Get Back, altering the lyrics to include "We don't need no Pakistanis, taking all the peoples jobs". It is a vivid testimonial to the Beatles' working-class roots.
John Lennon - who was always my favorite by virtue of his lyrical creativity (Walrus, Strawberry Fields, Happiness is a Warm Gun) and his ability to scream-sing (Slow Down, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Bad Boy) - went soft in the head after meeting Yoko. Those of us who were coming of age as teenagers in the early 70s were only too eager to overlook his utopian 'bagism' and condemn McCartney as the vapid, shallow, pop-idol who broke the Beatles up.
We were wrong on all counts. John broke up the band...and Paul was not only astonishingly creative in his own right, but was politically sophisticated in ways nobody appreciated. His 'Back in the USSR' wasn't a sop to Soviet Communism as so many believed at the time...it was an attempt to break through the Iron Curtain, make a connection with Soviet youth and ultimately, to subvert the Communist stranglehold on the Russian mind.
As a songwriter, I still gravitate to Lennon after all these years. But Paul had his own genius, and that little faux pas during the filming of 'Let It Be' spoke volumes about his social awareness and his quintessential Britishness.
Long live the Fab Four!
AlarmedKoranScientist wrote "Another anti Israel self hating Jew. Jack Straw has some Jewish ancestry. It's on the internet. "
I asked if this was true and I got no response. So if it is true I have seen no example of him being a self hating Jew. I just see another Jew who hates Greeks, Serbs, and other eastern Europeans. Its funny I was always pro Israel and people posted comments last week about Armenian and Greek anti semitism. I looked it up trying to find peoples views on this since I have never given it much thought. But even the most unobservant people should see the pattern here. Basically support Muslims everywhere except Israel. Sorry I can no longer go along with this charade if people on this site are serious about fighting Islam. Israel isnt the only conflict. In fact it is the country with the weakest claim against them. I support them because their struggle is tied to the global jihad movement that I feel I have too. But I am tired of every influential Jewish politician selling everyone else out. Thank you alarmed Koran Scientist you filled in a key part of the puzzle. I am looking at things totally different now.
"Jack Straw has some Jewish ancestry. It's on the internet."
I asked if this was true and I got no response.
I suppose people neither know nor care much.
I'd ask you not to build too much on it, though. The guy only said "some", and I doubt Straw is a practising anything. I read him as a typical venal politician - a man of straw, literally - and I don't think his sins should be assigned to any group of people. He must bear responsibility for what he's done and for what he hasn't done himself.
That is a good point Yojimbo the sins of an individual shouldnt be assigned to a group of people. Unless you are Greek and someone on this site came across something that was anti semetic and we are all like that. I dont want to go down that road but I cant think of a single Jewish politician maybe Sharon being the exception who stood up for others fighting Islam. Its always the opposite the holocaust card is drawn and used to defend muslims in these bogus genocide claims. We never examine Jewish dhimmitude on this site just that of middle eastern Christians, greeks, europeans etc. And lets face it the jewish lobby is powerful in the states a lot more powerful than the french lobby.
I think "the Jewish lobby" is something of an invention of the media. It's a fact that most American Jews vote Democrat, so how is that we are supposed to believe that the policy of a Republican Administration is what "the Jews" want?
There is some debunking of the latest claims about the so-called "Jewish lobby" in this article:
Stephen Walt's War with Israel.
Yes, some Jews practise dhimmitude, just as some Christians do. This is an example:
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2001/0519-Doomed.html
Frankly, I'm shocked by it, and not a little angered on behalf of the man's fellow-Israelis who've lost their lives to Islamic Terrorism, and for whom he seems to have so little regard.
Have a look at the link here - Presenting Hamas - and remind yourself of the reality.
I'm sorry - I'm inadequate to speak to your concerns - but please keep faith.
Paul had his own genius...
Just three words: Mull of Kintyre.
Just three words: The Frog Chorus.
Three more: Ebony and Ivory.
Redeemed by Live and Let Die and Jet.
I'd forgotten about "Ebony and Ivory". He rhymes "keyboard" with "Oh Lord".
Interested, Granny,
There is so much that is misunderstood about Paul.
For example, in 70/71, he had two successive singles - 'High, High, High' and 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish' - banned from airplay on the BBC. His frustration expressed itself in the sachrine-dripping 'Mary had a Little Lamb' on his next album...i.e., "let's see you ban THIS, bastards!"
His fan base (myself included), oblivious to the defiantly tonque-in-cheek nature of this song, was incredulous; Paul was selling out in ways unimaginable. Little did we know.
John was the great innovator of course...and if the stream-of-conciousness lyricism of 'I Am the Walrus' was indirectly borrowed from Bob Dylan, then 'Tommorow Never Knows' ('66) was an utterly original composition that literally ushered in a new form of musical genre (Acid Rock).
Still, Paul kept pace...and it became apparent that by '68/'69...with the White Album and 'Abbey Road,' that he had surpassed John as the dominant writing force on the Beatles.
His post-Beatles accomplishments with 'Wings' are well-documented, though as a song-writer, he seemed to have peaked in the late 60s (at least in my mind).
Andre Sakharov once claimed that a physicist invariably peaks in his 20s...that after 30, conceptual and abstract thinking becomes more difficult. The very same could be said about the songwriter.
Lets face it, does not matter what your political views have been in the past, me myself always having voted labour for no other reason than being working class and wanting the poor to get a slightly larger crumb of the rich cake than the tories would let fall out of the political pig trough. When it all comes down to it, many have avoided bnp, but now, we all have to admit that until the bnp get a large enough swing towards them, to make any government sit up and take notice, we will fail in the war on jihad, short of a military coop. Its us everyday ordinary folk who have to give that unusually out of the ordinary vote. It will not put them in government, but will give a voice that can create a more reasonable political balance to counteract the muslim block vote, that other parties need to suck up to.
CMN: it's all true. Jack Straw's son is a Muslim convert, and his constituency includes 25,000 Muslims.
canadian,
I can't stand jack straw any more than you can. And probably less. He is a mouthpiece for the old Foreign Office anti-Israel line. But you have no right to call him a Jew. As I understand it, he had one Jewish grandparent [out of four]. Further, he did not receive a Jewish education and does not identify himself as a Jew. Nobody here considers him a Jew. Furthermore, you don't know what knowledgeable Israelis were saying about the war on Serbia in 1999. Profs. Yehoshu`a Porat, Raphael Yisraeli, Arnon Soffer, etc. appeared on TV to oppose the war. You could also check op ed columns and letters written to the Jerusalem Post in English. Anyhow, you don't know what goes on here and you don't know who says what. The foreign ministry can usually be relied upon to copy the State Dept. But that is not Israeli opinion. And Straw is not a Jew.
You have a link for that, Paolo? Thank you very much if you can post it!
thanks eliyahu i have read some good articles by Israelis about serbia and I do know sharon took an honourable stance. I guess I shouldnt confuse the liberal hollywood style Jew with Israelis.