By Andrew L. Jaffee

Just as a coincidence — all sarcasm intended — Iran’s terrorist, Islamist rulers have released Akbar Ganji, “Iran’s most prominent dissident.” Some coincidence. This just happens to be a time when Iran’s leaders are facing international pressure for their “alleged” nuclear weapons program, and the country’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is shooting his bellicose mouth off about annihilating Israel. Token gestures or not, Iran is a serious threat for which no amount of appeasement (”engagement”) will cure.

The BBC was kind enough to point out that:

…many Iranians thought Ganji, 46, would never be freed from jail, even though his sentence was due to end.

The release comes days before the United Nations Security Council is due to discuss Iran’s stand-off with Western nations over the country’s nuclear programme.

The problem is that the West, most likely Europe and Canada, will buy this cynical move by Iran’s mullahs. It will give the trembling, weak hands of their political elite yet another excuse to put off referral of Iran to the Security Council for consideration of punitive sanctions.

This misguided placators of the International Herald Tribune believe Iran is not really that much of a threat, and that the Bush administration should play nice with the crazy mullahs:

…it’s time for Washington to call Ahmadinejad’s bluff by playing the card the hard-liners fear most: a dramatic U.S. offer of reconciliation, including a security guarantee like that offered North Korea. Such a move would expose the rifts in the regime, deny the hard-liners the confrontation they court, and deprive the bankrupt revolutionaries of their Great Satan.

Bold moves have never been a part of Washington’s game plan toward Tehran. But a power play like rapprochement may be the best chance to deal a new deck that includes mutual respect rather than the same old cards of mutual confrontation.

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By Ted Belman, IsraPundit

Is the US conflict with Iran over nuclear weapons or hegemony?

Conclusion
The trouble is that the US is against the growth of Irans’s power and prestige. Can the US cut a deal with Iran that is a win win. This would involve allowing Iran to develope its power and influence as a partner and ally of the US. The US would need to get Iran to stop its support of terrorism and instability in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq in exchange for allowing the growth of its influence in the east. The problem is that the US doesn’t want China and Pakistan to be strengthened by access to cheap and reliable energy. Is it too high a price to pay or will the US prefer instability all over rather than stability.

That’s why the US is threatening and talking to Iran. Iran is a threat to the US not because it wants nuclear weapons but because it has the potential to seriously undermine US hegemony in the ME and the Far East.

Continue reading…

netWMD has received its first death threat, because we exercised the right to free speech, and posted the Danish caricatures of Mohammed. This is the sad state of affairs in the Muslim world, as many of its people are so insecure in their own beliefs that they would punish others (infidels) who are merely trying to understand militant Islam. Here’s the comment:

This is very bad way to describe the liberty. i think cartoon makist and editor and all those persons who are involve in this issue to be killed. n it is right of those persons who are invole in this issue that they should me killed like dog. so that every other person learn from their.how ever i will say at the end that God is looking all of us. hope all of those person will be got their reward soon . Inshallah

Kashif Ali

Normally, we would keep a commentator’s contact information private, but in this case, we reserve our right to post it publicly in the hope that the information will help law enforcement agencies in tracking down this assailant (making death threats is illegal in the civilized world):

Email address: kashif_aali@hotmail.com
IP Address: 202.69.35.8
ISP: Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)
Country: Australia

Needless to say, complaints have been filed with American and Australian law enforcement agencies. And no, we will not remove the Danish cartoons from this site. We will not be intimidated by the Islamo-fascists. The only thing we’ll submit to is Havarti.

Addendum: The FBI and Australian National Security have opened cases in this matter. If the Islamists mean business, so do we. The difference is that we follow the rule of law, not vigilantism.

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Donnel Jones

The 12 signatories to the “Together facing the new totalitarianism” manifesto are under a death threat.

Their names are: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Chahla Chafiq , Caroline Fourest, Bernard-Henri Lévy, Irshad Manji , Mehdi Mozaffari, Maryam Namazie, Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie, Antoine Sfeir, Philippe Val, and Ibn Warraq.

A second manifesto will be released in support of these 12 brave souls. You can have your name put on it. I just added my own. These brave men and women should not stand alone.

The second letter reads:

I wish to express my unequivocal support for the twelve signatories and my outrage at the Islamist movement’s attack on them. I stand firm with the 12 against this reactionary movement. I join in their call to resist religious totalitarianism and to promote freedom, equal opportunity, human rights and secular values for all.

Let us stand with them. Simply click here to add your voice.

Whatever your politics, for or against the war, for or against American foreign policy, we can at least agree on the need to protect our freedoms. Many of the original signatories have deep criticisms of the U.S., so sign anyway, whatever your stand is.

Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan’s website.

Special Report: Danish Cartoons

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Several Danish Muslim organizations tried to shut down free speech through the courts (and other means of intimidation) — a reaction to the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten. A regional Danish prosecutor first threw out charges against the paper, and now the country’s top prosecutor, Henning Fode, has affirmed the right to free expression… sort of. Fode seemed to leave the door open to some suppression of free speech, but how specifically, I’m not sure. From USATODAY.com:

Denmark’s top prosecutor said Wednesday he will not press charges against the newspaper that first published the Prophet Mohammed drawings that triggered deadly protests by Muslims worldwide. …

Director of Public Prosecutions Henning Fode upheld the decision of a regional prosecutor, who said the drawings published in Jyllands-Posten on Sept. 30 did not violate Danish law. Fode’s decision cannot be appealed.

His ruling said the 12 cartoons did not violate bans on racist and blasphemous speech.

“My decision is that there is no violation of the said rules of the Danish Criminal Code,” Fode said in a statement.

But Fode’s ruling also noted there was “no free and unrestricted right to express opinions about religious subjects” in Denmark. He said Jyllands-Posten had thus been wrong in writing that religious groups had to be ready to put up with “scorn, mockery and ridicule.”

One of the cartoons that depicted Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb “may with good reason be understood as an affront and insult to the Prophet, who is an ideal for believing Muslims,” Fode said.

“However, such a depiction is not an expression of mockery or ridicule, and hardly scorn within the meaning of” Danish law.

A regional prosecutor ruled Jan. 7 that the drawings were protected by freedom of speech laws and did not violate bans on racism and blasphemy. A group of Danish Muslims said at the time they would appeal the ruling to the top prosecutor.

There is “no free and unrestricted right to express opinions about religious subjects” in Denmark? I’m no expert on the Dutch legal system, but I wonder if this is akin to “Shouting fire in a crowded theater,” a phrase used by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Hat-tip to Patrick at Clarity & Resolve

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Eastern Europe is where it’s at nowadays — a renaissance, if you will. The Czech Republic has decided to allow same-sex unions, in a true liberal move, by a country that has carefully chosen its alliances in the post-Soviet era. After all, the Czechs have joined NATO and are a member of the “Coalition of the Willing” helping to rebuild Iraq. The U.S. could learn a few things from a country that has survived through almost a century of outside domination and war. We should keep careful touch with what legislation is succeeding or failing in Eastern Europe, as the region is exploding with free, creative thought. According to the Czech News Agency:

The Czech Republic joined the countries where homosexuals can conclude registered partnership as the Chamber of Deputies overrode President Vaclav Klaus’s veto of the legislation.

The law on the unions of the people with the same sex was backed by 101 out of the 177 deputies present.

It was the fifth, successful, attempt at approving the controversial legislation.

This is true liberalism, as would be expected from a stable, prosperous democracy, but a stark change from what was not so long ago ultra-conservative fascist and then communist domination. True definitions of intolerance, prudishness, and repression in the early-to-mid 20th century were defined by fascism and communism (and in our time, Islamism).

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Just the title of a BBC story, “West Bank jail raid sparks chaos,” implies Israel is at fault for yet another Palestinian bout of lawlessness and chaos. The Beeb was reporting on Israel’s capture of terrorists from a Palestinian “prison.” These terrorists were about to be freed, and would have never had to answer for their crimes against Israeli citizens. Because of well-known Palestinian irresponsibility, and implicit support for terrorism, American and EU monitors were stationed in 2002 at the prison to make sure the inmates did not escape. But the monitors left because they feared for their own safety. How can Israel be blamed, as it is a sovereign democracy sworn to the protection of its own citizens? How can Palestinians expect to be treated as responsible members of the world community when they cannot even govern themselves and adhere to established, civilized norms? The BBC article provides facts that would seem to contradict its own story’s title.

Here’s the litany of Palestinian lawless acts, supposedly caused by Israel:

In the wave of Palestinian unrest that followed the Israeli raid in Jericho:

• The director of International Red Cross in Gaza was kidnapped by gunmen
• Two French citizens and a Korean were seized from a hotel in Gaza City by gunmen, one of whom was shot dead by security forces
• A British Council cultural centre in Gaza was set ablaze and an EU compound stormed
• The border crossing between Gaza and Egypt shut for the day after European monitors withdrew because of security threats
• An American teacher at the Arab American University in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, was held briefly by militants
• Two Australian teachers were held by militants in northern Gaza for two hours before being released
• Palestinian militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Gaza City warned US and UK nationals to leave the Palestinian territories immediately
• Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank demonstrated against the Israeli raid and what they see as the complicity of western governments.

And just why are these people, who are in “Palestine” to help Palestinians, being punished? Teachers? The director of International Red Cross?

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Commentary by the Canadian Coalition for Democracies
Alastair Gordon, March 15, 2006

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the passage of China’s Anti-Secession Act, an act that legitimized the use of military force by China to impose its will on the 23 million people of democratic Taiwan. This act is no idle threat, as China now has 800 ballistic missiles aimed at this tiny island to enforce its unilateral statute.

Taiwan has never, not even for a day, been part of the People’s Republic of China. The people of Taiwan have repeatedly voted to remain independent from China in fair and open elections. Hence, China’s claim has neither historic nor democratic legitimacy. Yet last year Paul Martin, for reasons he never explained to Canadians, signed the One China Policy, endorsing the imperialist aims of non-democratic China over a democratic ally.

The new Conservative government has promised to “articulate Canada’s core values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, free trade… on the international stage” (p 44 - Conservative Election Platform). Canadians are now looking for a change in our policy toward Taiwan to reflect that platform.

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SMCCDI (Information Service)
March 14, 2006

Thousands of pictures of the Islamic regime’s leaders were set on fire, by maverick Iranians, at the occasion of the banned “Tchahar-Shanbe Soori” (Fire Feast). In places, the constitution of the Islamic regime was also thrown in burning shrubbery to the “Hurray” of maverick Iranians.

Reports from several areas of the capital, such as Sadeghie and Mohseni, or from cities, such as, Esfahan, Ahvaz, Mahabad, Hamedan and Shahin-Shar, are all reporting about some of the regime’s symbols set on fire.

The SMCCDI yesterday issued a communiqué asking to “transform into ash the symbols of the regime and to give the ash to the wind” The call was broadcast by most popular abroad-based media for inside the country.

This year’s Fire Feast demonstrations have been qualified as unprecedented. Many Iranians intended to defy the Islamic regime and to reject the religious ban on the event.

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By Ted Belman

A narrative has emerged that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank are a “tragedy.” The fatal flaw lies in the original sin of supposedly lawless occupation of land, in contavention of the Geneva Convention. It makes a strong emotional pitch to a sense of justice, a major influence on the thinking of many American Jews. But the narrative is built on a flawed foundation.

For example, Gershom Gorenberg in his Op-Ed in the New York Times, “Israel’s Tragedy Foretold,” on March 10, 2006, opines that Israelis and their leaders have finally seen the light, namely that Israel should abandon the settlements.

In so concluding, Mr. Gorenberg puts his faith in an opinion by Legal Counsel to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, one Theodor Merion who wrote in 1967

“My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

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SMCCDI (Information Service)
March 14, 2006

The Islamic regime’s security forces have started to attack, at this time (19:45), the Iranian celebrators/demonstrators in several cities by brutally beating up anyone moving — women and especially young kids.

Clubs, chains and even knives have been used by foreign-speaking militiamen in battle dress.

The most brutal repression has been reported from several areas of the capital, such as Tajrish, Gohardasht, Narmak, and in the cities of Hamedan and Esfahan, which have already resulted in tens of wounded.

Young maverick masked Iranians have started to retaliate by setting tires ablaze and by using Molotov cocktails.

Editor’s note: See also “Urgent: Martial law imposed in volatile Iran cities,” from Iran Focus.

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SMCCDI (Information Service)
March 14, 2006

An increasing number of Iranians are coming, at this time (19:15 Iran local time), into most Iranian avenues and streets in a flagrant sign of defiance to the Islamic regime. Most cities, such as Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Hamedan, Kermanshah or Oroomiah (former Rezai-e) are affected by the move.

In many places, security forces are content to watch the crowd, knowing that an incident could turn the page. In some places and already at the start of a long evening, several security patrol cars have been damaged due to hand made explosive devices. Even some isolated security posts, such as the one located inside Tehran University has been damaged by masked young Iranians who threw explosive devices inside the facility, forcing the usually feared Bassij para-military agents to run out.

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by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun*
March 14, 2006
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3450
* Cross-posted with permission

“Individual Islamists may appear law-abiding and reasonable, but they are part of a totalitarian movement, and as such, all must be considered potential killers.” I wrote those words days after September 11, 2001, and have been criticized for them ever since. But an incident on March 3 at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill suggests I did not go far enough.

The Pit at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the pedestrian area where Taheri-azar struck.

That was when a just-graduated student named Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, and an Iranian immigrant, drove a sport utility vehicle into a crowded pedestrian zone. He struck nine people but, fortunately, none were severely injured.

Until his would-be murderous rampage, Mr. Taheri-azar, a philosophy and psychology major, had a seemingly normal existence and promising future. In high school, he had been student council president and a member of the National Honor Society. The Los Angeles Times writes that a number of UNC students found him “a serious student, shy but friendly.” One fellow student, Brian Copeland, “was impressed with his knowledge of classical Western thought,” adding, “He was kind and gentle, rather than aggressive and violent.” The university chancellor, James Moeser, called him a good student, if “totally a loner, introverted and into himself.”

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By Canadian Coalition for Democracies

Toronto, Canada - Monday, March 13, 2006 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to Afghanistan honours the priceless contribution of our soldiers, diplomats and humanitarian workers in helping the people of that newly liberated nation to build freedom and democracy. A free Afghanistan also denies terrorists the breeding ground from which they can fulfil their threat to attack Canadians here at home.

“Prime Minister Harper has shown courage and leadership by making his first visit to Afghanistan,” said Alastair Gordon, Canadian Coalition for Democracies. “Canadians are risking their lives to secure Afghanistan’s fragile democracy in which the kinds of human rights we take for granted are available to those who have known nothing but oppression.

“Stephen Harper is standing with our soldiers for the equal rights of women, male and female students, minorities and those who dissent peacefully.

“On behalf of all Canadians, we thank Prime Minister Harper for showing global leadership in affirming the essential role of our armed forces in the defence of freedom and the defeat of terror.”

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SMCCDI (Information Service)
March 12, 2006

The Islamic regime pushed ahead in the promotion of its policy of a “culture of death” and “mourning ritual” by transforming part of the Tehran University into a new cemetery. Three bodies belonging to what has been qualified as “unknown combatants” were buried, today, in the Rajaii College.

The move, protested by hundreds of students, seeks to undermine the moral value and impact of the Iranian University, which has become a bastion of progressive and enlightened ideals. It also creates a better way of ideological control of Iranian universities by organizing daily Islamist gatherings under the label of paying tribute to combatants.

Such a backward project was first proposed by the dogmatic Islamist President Ahmadinejad and at a time that he was the acting mayor of Tehran. It follows the nomination, few months ago, of an illiterate cleric as head of Tehran’s university which raised a wave of protest by students and sporadic clashes due to the brutal attack of peaceful demonstrators by members of the paramilitary Bassij force acting as “students.”

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