Evidence Piles Up

[Rajin Cajun]

Europe's Islamist-Leftist Alliance
By Adrian Morgan
FamilySecurityMatters.org | May 1, 2007


In 2004, David Horowitz published Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left, a seminal work based on the author's 50-year experience of the American Left. Since the book was written, the links between Islam and the left have become stronger, and not just in the United States. The global anti-war movements have naturally forged alliances between leftists and Islamists -- in short, a Black-Red Alliance.


One doesn’t need to look very hard to find evidence of this alliance; it permeates every aspect of European politics today. Scratch beneath the surface of any Leftist organization and you’re likely to find a radical Islamist movement scratching back. Behind every anti-war movement, you’ll find support for Palestinian terrorists and Islamic Jihad.

Take Britain’s Respect Party, for instance. This group, which was founded on January 25, 2004 from the ranks of the Stop the War Coalition, is headed by the notorious showman, George Galloway, its only elected member of parliament. Respect encourages its members to also belong to other political groups, namely the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), the Muslim Association of Britain and the Muslim Council of Britain.

The SWP has always demonized Israel, and their involvement in Respect has led to the new party's official policy being staunchly anti-Israeli: "We support the call for a boycott of Israeli goods and services, of tourism to Israel, and of academic, sporting and cultural links with Israeli bodies." One of Respect's senior figures, Yvonne Ridley, told students at Imperial College in February 2006 that "if there was any Zionism in the Respect Party they would be hunted down and kicked out. We have no time for Zionists." She described Israel as "that disgusting little watchdog of America that is festering in the Middle East."

Ridley, a convert to Islam, told Muslims in East London on June 7, 2006, that they should stop cooperating with police. Ridley's bizarre trajectory from Christian Sunday school teacher to Islamist will be discussed in a later article, but her website has a book list, which is compiled "n association with Maktabah, on a monthly basis." Maktabah, an Islamic bookstore, states on its home page: "Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are unable to process any online or telephone orders for approx. 28 days."

Why should Maktabah be unable to process orders? The Maktabah bookshop in Birmingham was recently raided by anti-terror police in connection with a plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier. In 1999, Maktabah published a book on Kashmiri jihad, "The Army of Madinah in Kashmir" written by Esa al-Hindi. Hindi is in fact Dhiren Barot, who on November 7, 2006, was sentenced to 40 years in jail for plots to attack targets in Britain and the USA.

These targets included the Prudential building in Newark, the Citigroup building in New York and others. In April 2001, Barot had taken video footage of the World Trade Center. As his camera focused on the towers, he turned the camera, so they lay horizontal in the frame of view. In another clip, he again turned the camera on its side when taking a video the World Trade Center, and he can be simultaneously heard making the sound of an explosion.

Yvonne Ridley is no stranger to terrorists. In 2004, she described Abu Hamza al-Masri, the hook-handed cleric, as "quite sweet really." This was before Hamza was jailed for seven years on February 7, 2006, for inciting murder of Jews, Hindus and non-Muslims.

Also, the first of Ridley's three husbands, Daoud Zaaroura, had been a colonel in the terrorist Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

The Stop the War Coalition, from which the Respect Party grew, is dominated by leftists. Its "convener" is Lindsey German, who is on the central committee of the SWP and has stood a parliamentary candidate for the Respect Party. In July, 2004, she explained the Stop the War Coalition's approach to Muslims, claiming they were poor victims, who needed her condescending middle class protection: "It should be a badge of honour to those of us on the left that a group of people who face discrimination and victimisation should look to organisations like Stop the War Coalition to help defend them - and that the overwhelming majority of those so politicised do not turn to fundamentalist groups but to socialists, trade unionists and peace campaigners."

She complained then that the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) was under attack, along with Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood, who has justified terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. MAB has strong links with the Muslim Brotherhood, being founded in 1997 by Kamal Tawfik el-Helbawy, a member of the Brotherhood. Mohammed Kassem Sawalha, a senior member of the MAB, is not only linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, but was also a former fundraiser for the terrorist group Hamas. In the West Bank, he was known as “Abu Abada.”

The Muslim Brotherhood has made deals with leftists in Egypt, the country where it was founded in 1928. In 1987 the Brotherhood forged an alliance with the Socialist Labour Party and the Liberal Socialist Party, called the Labour Islamic Alliance. The Alliance won 60 seats in the Egyptian elections that year, with 37 of these belonging to the Brotherhood's representatives.

The Muslim Association of Britain, with leaders such as Azzam al-Tamimi support terrorist operations in Israel, is happy to court the left to serve its own political ends. On February 16, the first major Stop the War march took place in London, organized with the help of the Muslim Association of Britain. Though the protesters were complaining about the impending Iraq invasion, which followed a month later, official banners at the march read: "No war on Iraq - freedom for Palestine."

The notion of Palestinian "victimhood" has been a keystone of leftist and Islamist ideology for more than three decades, coupled with a jealous contempt for America and Israel. The 2004 rally had influential leftists speaking, such as playwright Harold Pinter, who claimed America was "a country run by a bunch of criminal lunatics."

The Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party has made ridiculous gestures of solidarity with its Muslim affiliates, garnering scorn from Marxist members of the left. At one demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in London, a white female SWP organizer urged non-Muslim women to cover their heads with scarves, "to show respect" at a demonstration which was "mostly Muslim."

Three days before 9/11, the SWP published an article which claimed the Taliban made women remain secluded at home "as a means of protecting them. At an anti-war meeting in Birmingham, SWP members bowed down to the bigotry of Muslim members by banning an apostate from Islam from attending. At another anti-war rally at Trafalgar Square, the SWP encouraged segregation of secular men and women, in deference to the Muslims present. This behavior led Marxist Sean Mantegna to describe the SWP as "demoralised Guardian readers with headscarves."

The theme of the so-called "Black Red Alliance" was discussed by Douglas Davis in the Spectator (also available here). He noted that Spark, the journal of the Socialist Labour Party, run by former miner Arthur Scargill, had called Asif Hanif, a young Islamist from Britain's Al-Muhajiroun group, as a "hero of revolutionary youth." On April 30, 2003, Hanif killed three Israelis and wounded 60 others in a suicide attack on Mike's Bar on the Tel Aviv seafront.

Davis noted that in August 2002, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's deputy leader, had urged British Muslims to seek alliances among "any movement that opposes America, even atheists." Abu Hamza had said to his followers: "We say to anyone who hates the Americans and wants to throw the Jews out of Palestine - Ahlan wa Sahlan (welcome). The Prophet teaches that we could ally ourselves even with the atheists if it helps us destroy [the] enemy."

The union of Islam and the left is celebrated in France by Olivier Besançonneau, leader of the French Trotskyites. He said of Muslims: "Are these not the new slaves? Is it not natural they should unite with the working class to destroy the capitalist system?" The French Communist Party commissioned a study to examine the electoral potential of forging alliances with Muslim groups. Already, leftist French groups such as the Revolutionary Communist League (Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire) and Workers' Struggle (Lutte Ouvri ère) have allied themselves with Islamists to gain seats in the European Parliament.

The language of the proponents of the Black-Red Alliance is confrontational when dealing with valid criticisms of Islamists and Muslim extremists. The main term used to silence criticism is "Islamophobe." In Britain, a website has been in existence for more than a year, calling itself Islamophobia-watch. This site is run by two individuals. One is Eddie Truman, who is both a member of Britain's Communist Party and spokesman of the Scottish Socialist Party. The main writer, who describes critics of Islamist radicalism as "right-wing racists" and "Islamophobes," calls himself Martin Sullivan. His real identity is Bob Pitt, the formerly secretary of the Workers Revolutionary Party.

Pitt's ranting on this website praises leftists such as Ken Livingstone, who exemplifies the stance of the Black-Red Alliance. Livingstone's support for Yusuf al-Qaradawi is mirrored on Islamophobia-watch.

Individually, the parties within the Stop the War Coalition or Respect would stand little chance of getting elected. United, they actually wield political influence. They have also made common cause with Black-Red allies from other countries. In December 2002, before the March 19 invasion of Iraq, a meeting was convened in Egypt which brought international leftists and Islamists to the same table. The meeting resulted in the first Cairo declaration "against U.S. Hegemony and War on Iraq and In Solidarity with Palestine." The declaration included a proposal to send “human shields” to Iraq.

In December 2003, a second Cairo declaration was announced the Black-Red Alliance would continue the "pursuance of the struggle to support the unified international front against imperialism and capitalist globalization."

The naive arguments of these leftists would be risible, were it not for the fact that now, as the Iraq War shows no sign of an imminent conclusion, their views are increasingly being heard. The spokespeople of the Black-Red Alliance are edging further into the mainstream politics of both Europe and America.

[tenoriodj]

Rajin, I have to agree with you on many of the issues you raise on this post.

I am not a right winger in many areas (I am a European in full support of our social democracy / soft capitalist / welfare state model, for example), and I try to see the positive developments coming out of the political left in Europe and the states whenever possible, but on this issue, I think you are right.

In my country of Spain, the current socialist goverment was swept into power by the emotional shock of the March 11 train bombings in Madrid. In two days, the propaganda machine managed to convince may Spanish voters that we had it coming to us becase Jose Maria Aznar´s government supported the Iraq war. The bombings, however, we now now, began to be planned long before that. Further, the "school of thought" of many of these Islamists who were involved in the attacks believes that the "Jihad" against Spain should continue until 2/3 of Spain (the Al Andalus of pre- 1492) are retaken by the sword. President Zapatero is consistently found appeasing Islamists, pushing his "alliance of civilizations" which is based on the premise that Islam and the west are on roughly equal footing ethically and culturally. I have to differ, and I like to do so by raising one question: "What islamic regime has ever been known to create free, democratic institutions and uphold human rights, including those of women?" Human beings are equal in value and dignity, but no, not all religions and cultures are equal!

The thing that bothers me the most is the border line anti semitism (certainly anti - Israelism!) that I see in the Spanish and other European left, particularly the French. This goes hand in hand with their support for Palestinian groups.

[Cott Tiger]

Rajin,

What is the purpose of your post exactly?

Do you agree with the article?

Have you researched or investigated the content of the article to find out if there is any truth behind it?

Or are you just peddling and regurgitating political propaganda?

For example, if you cared to research the RESPECT Party you would soon discover that it is nothing more than the ego-massaging apparatus of “Gorgeous” George Galloway. He got elected in 2005 on a one-issue policy of anti-war in Iraq. Needless to say the other 25 candidates RESPECT put up failed miserably to get any electoral success. For Adrian Morgan to credit it and its tiny band of like –minded followers, as somehow permeating every aspect of UK politics is laughable.

Perhaps in future, Rajin you should check the evidence for yourself, before broadcasting to the Feldgrau community that it is “piling up”.

[pzrmeyer2]

that's right, Andre, keep your head in the sand...

[Cott Tiger]

PM2,

I spent three hours last night watching and listening to how a British terror cell plotted to kill thousands of people at a shopping centre in England (which some members of my family use regularly) with a devastating fertiliser bomb, They were thankfully jailed for life yesterday.

I live in the UK and I am fully aware of the threat Islamic-extremism presents. I do not have my head in the sand.

However, the often inaccurate and ridiculous political propaganda and smearing regurgitated by Rajin Cajun above, posted without comment or analysis, adds nothing to our understanding or the debate.

There are more people on the sex-offenders register in the UK than there are members of the RESPECT Party. Yet Mr. Morgan revels in telling us all how this tiny band of radicals is somehow central to and demonstrative of this conspiratorial and dangerous alliance of Leftists (whatever they are) and Islamists that is permeating “every aspect” of European politics.


Regards,

Andre

[michael kenny]

Individually, the parties within the Stop the War Coalition or Respect would stand little chance of getting elected. United, they actually wield political influence

Obviously written by someone with an agenda. A little research on the author is very revealing.


Another snippet from a site where the author is a contributer:

"George Galloway is seen in a room, besides a white woman in black jogging outfit. He is being heckled. One of his hands nervously touches a large bottle of diet coke. The loudest voice heckling is that of Abu Izzadeen.

AI: "We're going to follow you. We're going to follow you George. Hey! Georgy Boy! You're frightened. You're a frightened man! I thought you was a champion! You're a coward!"

George Galloway's female attendant has walked off camera and he is visibly disturbed. His eyes look ahead, then down, then ahead. He touches the bottle of Coke. He says:

GG: "I'm feeling very threatened by your behaviour."

Scene fades to an image of a website, with animation of burning flames
A website fills screen. An animated banner of flames. In front of the flames, the words DO NOT VOTE These words aventually fade and are replaced with: VOTING IS APOSTASY. "

http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/a ... 00202.html

Yep they march forward hand in hand!

[pzrmeyer2]

Ahhh the fellow travellers come out of the woodwark. How they scream, like vampires exposed to holy water.

Have you researched or investigated the content of the article to find out if there is any truth behind it?

why dont you investigate it Andre? tell us where the author is wrong.

Or are you just peddling and regurgitating political propaganda?

so reporting on verifible quotes and actions showing links between leftists and Islamic radicals is propaganda?

often inaccurate and ridiculous political propaganda and smearing regurgitated by Rajin Cajun above, posted without comment or analysis, adds nothing to our understanding or the debate.

who is smearing now? he just posted an article. why is RC's analysis so vital to your understanding of the debate? can't you figure out the debate from reading the article on its own, or do you require "Cliff notes" commentary? and why are you only focused on Galloway, an elected MP? how bout the rest of the story?

Kenny wrote:

Obviously written by someone with an agenda

right.. as opposed to you, mr objective? you see, if RC or the author is wrong, not much happens, other than they are embarassed. but if head-in-the-sand folks like you are wrong about the religion of peace, and its co-consprators in the western left, well....innocent folks will die. I'm sure either way you'll figure out a way to blame our own countries though.

Another snippet from a site where the author is a contributer:

did the same author report and write that piece? if not, so what?
you are a self acknowledged member and contributor to Stormfront. Should we judge you for all of that site's content?

Yep they march forward hand in hand!

more than you obviously care to admit.

please point out the lies and untruts in this one for me. anyone able to connect the dots between the 2 articles? or it just another smear of those peaceful folks next door?

Jihad Destroys the Swedish Model
By Fjordman
JihadWatch.org | May 1, 2007


I decided to write this essay following the riots in Malmö this weekend. Malmö is Sweden's third largest city and by far the worst city in Scandinavia when it comes to Muslim aggression. I read recently that an Arab girl interviewed in Malmö said that she liked it so much there, it felt almost like an Arab city. Native Swedes have been moving away from the city for years, turned into refugees in their own country by Jihad, not too different from the non-Muslims in some regions of the Philippines, southern Thailand or Kashmir in India, or for that matter Christian Serbs in Kosovo.

Sweden was presented during the Cold War as a middle way between capitalism and Communism. When this model of a society collapses -- and it will collapse, under the combined forces of Islamic Jihad, the European Union, Multiculturalism and ideological overstretch -- it is thus not just the Swedish state that will collapse but the symbol of Sweden, the showcase of an entire ideological world view. I wrote two years ago that if the trend isn't stopped, the Swedish nation will simply cease to exist in any meaningful way during the first half of this century. The country that gave us Bergman, ABBA and Volvo could become known as the Bosnia of northern Europe, and the "Swedish model" will be one of warning against ideological madness, not one of admiration. I still fear I was right in that assessment.

Jonathan Friedman, an American living outside Malmö, mentions that the so-called Integration Act of 1997 proclaimed that "Sweden is a Multicultural society." Notes to the Act also stated that "Since a large group of people have their origins in another country, the Swedish population lacks a common history. The relationship to Sweden and the support given to the fundamental values of society thus carry greater significance for integration than a common historical origin."

Native Swedes have thus been reduced to just another ethnic group in Sweden, with no more claim to the country than the Kurds or the Somalis who arrived there last Thursday. The political authorities of the country have erased their own people's history and culture.

Jens Orback, Minister for Democracy, Metropolitan Affairs, Integration and Gender Equality from the Social Democratic Party said during a debate in Swedish radio in 2004 that "We must be open and tolerant towards Islam and Muslims because when we become a minority, they will be so towards us."

This is a government that knows perfectly well that their people will become a minority in their own country, yet is doing nothing to stop this. On the contrary. Pierre Schori, Minister for immigration, during a parliamentary debate in 1997 said that: "Racism and xenophobia should be banned and chased [away]," and that one should not accept "excuses, such as that there were flaws in the immigration and refugee policies."

In other words: It should be viewed as a crime for the native population not to assist in wiping themselves out.

Orback's attitude is what follows once you declare that culture is irrelevant. Our culture, even though we try to forget it, is steeped in a Judeo-Christian morality based on the Golden Rule of reciprocity: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Luke 6:31)

Muslims, on the other hand, are steeped in an Islamic tradition based on Muslim supremacy. Muslims view lack of force as a sign of weakness, and they despise weakness, which is precisely why Adolf Hitler stated his admiration for Islam, and thought it would be a better match for Nazism than Christianity, with its childish notions of compassion.

A Swedish man was nearly killed for the crime of wearing clothes with his own national flag while Sweden was participating in the 2006 football World Cup. Some "Multicultural youths" found this to be an intolerable provocation, and the 24-year-old man was run down by a car in Malmö, where Muhammad is becoming the most common name for newborn boys.

Feriz and Pajtim, members of Gangsta Albanian Thug Unit in Malmö, explain how they mug people downtown. They target a lone victim. "We surround him and beat and kick him until he no longer fights back," Feriz said. "You are always many more people than your victims. Cowardly?" "I have heard that from many, but I disagree. The whole point is that they're not supposed to have a chance." They didn't express any sympathy for their victims. "If they get injured, they just have themselves to blame for being weak," said Pajtim and shrugged.

The wave of robberies the city of Malmö has witnessed is part of a "war against the Swedes." This is the explanation given by young robbers from immigrant background in interviews with Petra Åkesson. "When we are in the city and robbing we are waging a war, waging a war against the Swedes." This argument was repeated several times. "Power for me means that the Swedes shall look at me, lie down on the ground and kiss my feet." The boys explain, laughingly, that "there is a thrilling sensation in your body when you're robbing, you feel satisfied and happy, it feels as if you've succeeded, it simply feels good." "We rob every single day, as often as we want to, whenever we want to. The Swedes don't do anything, they just give us the stuff. They're so wimpy."

"Exit Folkhemssverige - En samhällsmodells sönderfall" (Exit the People's Home of Sweden - The Downfall of a Model of Society) is a book from 2005 about immigration and the Swedish welfare state model dubbed "the people's home," written by Jonathan Friedman, Ingrid Björkman, Jan Elfverson and Åke Wedin. According to them, the Swedish Multicultural elites see themselves first of all as citizens of the world. In order to emphasize and accentuate diversity, everything Swedish is deliberately disparaged. Opposition to this policy is considered a form of racism:

"The dominant ideology in Sweden, which has been made dominant by powerful methods of silencing and repression, is a totalitarian ideology, where the elites oppose the national aspect of the nation state. The problem is that the ethnic group that are described as Swedes implicitly are considered to be nationalists, and thereby are viewed as racists."

The authors fear that the handling of the immigration policies has seriously eroded democracy because the citizens lose their loyalty towards a state they no longer consider their own. "Instead of increasing the active participation of citizens, the government has placed clear restrictions on freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of congregation."

Mona Sahlin has held various posts in Social Democratic cabinets, among others as Minister for Democracy, Integration and Gender Equality. Sahlin has said that many Swedes are envious of immigrants because they, unlike the Swedes, have a culture, a history, something which ties them together. Notice how Swedish authorities first formally state that Swedes don't have a history or a culture, and then proceed to lament the fact that Swedes don't have a history or a culture. A neat trick.

Sahlin has also stated that: "If two equally qualified persons apply for a job at a workplace with few immigrants, the one called Muhammad should get the job. It should be considered an asset to have an ethnic background different from the Swedish one." In 2004, she was quoted as saying that "A concerted effort that aims at educating Swedes that immigrants are a blessing to their country must be pursued," stressing that her compatriots must accept that the new society is Multicultural. "Like it or not, this is the new Sweden."

Mona Sahlin was elected leader of the Social Democratic Party, as thus a future contender for the post of Swedish Prime Minister, in 2007.

Why does the government dispense with the social contract and attack its own people like this? Well, for starters, because it can. Sweden is currently arguably the most politically repressive and totalitarian country in the Western world. It also has the highest tax rates. That could be a a coincidence, but I'm not sure that it is. The state has become so large and powerful that is has become an autonomous organism with a will of its own. The people are there to serve the state, not vice versa. And because state power penetrates every single corner of society, including the media, there are no places left to mount a defense if the state decides to attack you.

It has been said jokingly that while other countries are states with armies, Pakistan is an army with a state. Likewise, it could be argued that Sweden started out being a nation with a bureaucracy and ended up being a bureaucracy with a nation. In fact, the bureaucracy formally abolished the very nation it was supposed to serve. Its representatives are no longer leaders of a people, but caretakers preoccupied only with advancing their own careers through oiling and upholding, if possible expanding, the bureaucratic machinery.

Swedes pay the highest tax rates of any (supposedly) free nation, and for this they get flawed social security, non-existent physical security and a state apparatus dedicated to their destruction.

Anna Ekelund in the newspaper Aftonbladet writes that: "We are a people who allow ourselves to be insulted by the government on a daily basis. We are not expected to be capable of thinking for ourselves, of deciding what we will read, or managing our own money. Swedes are as co-dependent as an alcoholic's wife. Yet we do not hurry to the ballot box to remove the prevailing systems. Not because we don't want to but because too many of us have painted ourselves into their corners."

Moreover, Swedes are keenly aware of the fact that their country is viewed by many outsiders as a "model society." Sweden is a deeply ideological state dedicated to imposing a certain world view on its citizens, and because the state is ideological, dissenters are quite literally treated as enemies of the state.

In the book The New Totalitarians, the British historian Roland Huntford in the early 1970s pointed out that it was easier to establish the Fascist model of the corporate state in Sweden than in Mussolini's Italy for cultural reasons, since Sweden had a centralized bureaucracy whereas Italians are skeptical of state authority. Put simply: Swedes have tended to trust their bureaucrats, which no Italian in his right mind would ever do.

According to him, "The Swedes have a horror of controversy as something unpleasant, inefficient and vaguely immoral. They require for peace of mind, not confrontation, but consensus. Consensus guides everything: private conversation, intellectual life and the running of the State."

The then Minister of Education, Mr. Ingvar Carlsson, defined the purpose of schooling: "It is to produce a well adjusted, good member of society. It teaches people to respect the consensus, and not to sabotage it." He also on one occasion said that "School is the spearhead of Socialism." Mr. Carlsson was Swedish Prime Minister as late as 1996.

Mr. Carlsson's mentor in the Social Democratic Party and predecessor as Swedish Prime Minister (1969 to 1986), Mr. Olof Palme, openly flaunted his disregard, if not contempt for, Western civilization: "The Renaissance so-called? Western culture? What does it mean to us?" Under the watchful eye of the Labor movement, Swedish education has for decades mounted deliberate attacks on Western culture, making it look suspect.

According to Mr. Huntford, "When the Swedes change ideas, they do it to the full, leaving no room for criticism or reservation. The country lacks intellectual defences; anything new will conquer without resistance being offered." The consensus "assumes that technological advancement is the sole path to happiness, and the Gross National Product the only measure of national success. It also assumes that the good of the collective at all times must take precedence over the good of the individual. It prescribes that the fundamentals of Swedish society must never be questioned or discussed."

This is how Mrs Maj Bossom-Nordboe, then departmental chief of at the Directorate of Schools, expressed it: "It's useless to build up individuality, because unless people learned to adapt themselves to society, they would be unhappy. Liberty is not emphasized. Instead, we talk about the freedom to give up freedom. The accent is on the social function of children, and I will not deny that we emphasize the collective."

Roland Huntford ended his book with a warning that this system of soft-totalitarianism could be exported to other countries. He has been proven right since:

"The Swedes have demonstrated how present techniques can be applied in ideal conditions. Sweden is a control experiment on an isolated and sterilized subject. Pioneers in the new totalitarianism, the Swedes are a warning of what probably lies in store for the rest of us, unless we take care to resist control and centralization, and unless we remember that politics are not to be delegated, but are the concern of the individual. The new totalitarians, dealing in persuasion and manipulation, must be more efficient than the old, who depended upon force."

Following the September 2006 elections, Fredrik Reinfeldt became Prime Minister of Sweden, presiding over a center-right coalition government. This is, in my view, positive. Sweden has been described by some as a "one-party state," since the Social Democrats have been in power for 65 of the last 74 years. However, the differences between the left-wing and the right-wing in Sweden are not always that big.

The last time these parties were in power, under the leadership of PM Carl Bildt from 1991 to 94, they presided over massive immigration, and have not been vocal in their opposition to the Multicultural policies since. The new Foreign Minister Bildt as a UN Commissioner to the Balkans called for recognizing Islam as a part of European culture.

PM Reinfeldt has stated that the original Swedish culture was merely barbarism: "It can sometimes be good to humbly remind of the fact that a great deal of what constitutes Sweden has been created in [a process of] evolution, exactly because we have been open to accept other people and experiences."

Reinfeldt said this following a visit to an area called Ronna in Södertälje, near Stockholm. One year earlier a police station in Södertälje was hit by shots from an automatic weapon following a major confrontation between immigrant youths and police. The trouble in Ronna started after a Swedish girl had been called a "whore" and reacted to this. Ethnologist Maria Bäckman, in her study "Whiteness and gender," has followed a group of Swedish girls in the immigrant suburb of Rinkeby outside Stockholm. Bäckman relates that several of the blond Swedish girls stated that they had dyed their hair to avoid sexual harassment.

I have called Sweden a soft-totalitarian country, but I am sometimes not so sure about the "soft" part. Opinion polls have revealed that two out of three Swedes doubt whether Islam can be combined with Swedish society, and a very significant proportion of the population have for years wanted more limitations on immigration. Yet not one party represented in Parliament is genuinely critical of the Multicultural society.

Is it just a coincidence that the one country on the European continent that has avoided war for the longest period of time, Sweden, is also arguably the one Western nation where Political Correctness has reached the worst heights? Maybe the prolonged period of peace has created an environment where layers of ideological nonsense have been allowed to pile up for generations without stop. I don't know what Sweden will look like a generation from now, but I'm pretty sure it won't be viewed as a model society. And if the absence of war is one of the causes of its current weakness, I fear that is a problem that will soon be cured.

[

[phylo_roadking]

a devastating fertiliser bomb

Speaking as someone who has both lived in Northern Ireland during a time when these were more than common, AND worked in a Forensic Science laboratory where these were studied, dissembled and recreated...belive me, THAT statement is a contradiction in terms!

"fertiliser bombs" are.....very weak in portable quantities - it requires a Transit van-worth to do any good. The benzine evaporates VERY quickly out of the mix, meaning it has to be close-packed in either individual bags or containers....not all of which for the above reason will have full volatility. The mix of the correct nitrogen-rated fertiliser and benzine or similar is VERY hard to gauge and more is not necessarily better. So its remarkably rare for ALL sections of a bomb to actually explode! Its a VERY weak explosive, nowhere near as strong as 33% "industrial explosive....its the "blast" effect of flying vehicle that does the most damage!

In Northern Ireland its reckoned that of the fertiliser bombs used - only some 30% ever exploded, and only 50% of those achieved anything like their full practical strength - already noted as being less than devastating.
Thats why the invention of the very reliable "controlled explosion", the firing of a half-inch lead ball into an explosive device to blow its component sections apart and reduce the effect of the final bang. Old primed devices have been found over the years here sitting inert and abandoned, either they failed to explode mechanically, or the volatiles leached out and rendered it back ino - bags of fertiliser!!!

THATS why Semtex was so important to terrorists, it removed the whole questionmark over the practicality of enrichened fertiliser as an explosive.

And of course, and finally - the fertilisers with the right percentage of nitrogen in the mix are rare today and their sale and use VERY restricted for the above reason. Which is why these numpties were caught - the fertiliser company reported them to the Police when they bought the stuff!

But I LOVE hearing the spin!!!

[Cott Tiger]

Phylo,

ITN news and the FBI explosive experts must have got it wrong then.

http://itn.co.uk/tags/fertiliser.html (watch the video in the top left corner)

They recreated the “devastating” effect 600kg (1300lbs), the amount the terrorists had, of ammonium nitrate fertiliser can have. It practically disintegrates a car and a pick up truck next to it. The experts claim it the explosive power could easily bring down a large building and was capable of causing 100’s of casualties in a highly populated area.

Watch the video in the above clip and then tell me again that chemical fertiliser can’t be “devastating”.

I think you are trying to argue black is white in this instance.

So what is the “spin” that you “love” hearing Phylo? Perhaps these nice boys were just planning on growing some crops?

Regards,

Andre

[Rajin Cajun]

I did not post my views on this yet because unlike others here I had work and just quickly put it up. I also don't like giving my views on an article till after discussion has gone on in order not to spin the conversation in any direction. I will make my thoughts latter on the article but figured I would drop a quick message since the typical leftists are jumping out of the woodwork.

Though I am glad tenoriodj is looking at the article with an open mind.

[Cott Tiger]

Rajin,

So I am a “typical leftist” am I?

I find your pigeon holing of me rather laughable.

I look forward to your comments on the validity, accuracy and usefulness of the article when you deem it suitable.

Regards,

Andre

[phylo_roadking]

They recreated the “devastating” effect 600kg (1300lbs), the amount the terrorists had, of ammonium nitrate fertiliser can have. It practically disintegrates a car and a pick up truck next to it. The experts claim it the explosive power could easily bring down a large building and was capable of causing 100’s of casualties in a highly populated area.

Actually - if (as usual) you read my thread properly, you'll see that I said there was exactly and only one circumstance where fortified nitrate mix is truly effective is when used in HUGE amounts - did I not? And unless you've ever SEEN 600kg of fertiliser explosive you've no idea how much that really is to have to prepare, store, handle, move around, pack into a vehicle, prime, and tranport.

The video does NOT showexactly how much of the car had to be filled with this stuff! The answer is - in terms of 600kg - every single open space in the vehicle - of course I know it will disintegrate the car and the truck - isn't this ALSO exactly what I said above?

Right, now that we've established you have a blind spot to the written word, let me be very clear about something; I've seen these devices explode in real life from a safe distance - both "live" terrorist devices AND laboratory-constructed test items such as this "for comparison". The explosive effect of laboratory-fortified "mix" together with an acurately-assembled copy of the firing device - but lab "reconstruction staff" for this purpose are almost 100% exservicemen and artificers/engineers. Where do you think "Lab staff" get this sort of expertise? They get it in the US Army or the British Army, its not something thats actually taught in university chemistry labs. Anyway, as I was saying, the explosive force of a correctly-assembled device constructed from volatile/ammonium nitrate fertiliser mixed under laboratory conditions, wired properly to ALL explode - can provide an explosion some 30-35% bigger than a terrorist device.

"Bathtub" explosive is mixed a few kilos at a time, packed and stored, often in separate places, and never correctly - cos theyre doing it in bedsits not labs. Different levels of heat and cold, dryness and damp all effect how the the volatiles evaporate back out of the mix...as believe me its VERY hard to get hold of proper "stabilised" plastic bags for sealing volatiles in. So a terrorist device will be made of several dozen small or maybe half a dozen BIG bags of mix - all of which have been stored in not-ideal circumstances, for various lengths of time...so will have diffferent flashpoints. These are THEN packed into a vehicle of some sort - usually the ubiquitous transit, but if not then a car...and thus scattered between boot (trunk) and rear seat wells. EACH separate bag needs a primer charge, because this isn't a very reactive mix, it's triggered by another explosion. Easiest of course is everything crammed into the rear of a van where one big primer does them all.

So - in a LARGE number of occasions - the primer goes off but the seriously-weakened mix simply doesn't ignite! Or individual primer charges don't ALL ignite their main charge. In SOME cases the primer charge ignites...but the mix is weak enough that ALL that the primer does is blow the device apart!

Targets have to be very well-chosen. It's a very "slow wave front" explosive - which is why BIG devices are constructed; you use size to get power. Thirty pounds' weight of C4 will give you something similar to those 1300lbs of mix! Or twenty of Semtex. Your vehicle - IF you're after a vbuilding - must be parked VERY close to your target....but of course not so close so that casual passersbys wonder why your van or car is sagged right down on its springs! You'd be amazed how many bombs are spotted simply because of THIS! If you're after personnel then it'll be as much the shrapnel from the vehicle as the force of the explosion that will cause them. ALSO, and most important of all in deciding what damage is actually done - its NOT a "shaped" charge in ANY way - you can't "lens" the wavefront or direct it.

The best explanation of what I mean is the van bomb that actually destroyed the lab I worked in two years' after I left; the front of the building was blown in by the force of the explosion, but technically that's ALL was done to the building, both wings were intact and the rest of the front apart from the front facade.. The van was parted on the other side of a road from the front security fence, and it was HUGE to reach across and do that. BUT....it was parked beside an old dry-stone wall later mortared in place - and the other "half" of the explosion blew the big boulders over a dual carriageway....into a housing estate! They scythed through houses and a church like the broadside from a Napoleonic three-decker!

But the point to emphasise is that this was a HUGE device, many times bigger than that described and shown, and ALL parts of the charge exploded. Its important - as above - NOT to loose sight of how weak this explosive actually is and how rare for the full device to explode. Let's face it - these guys ONLY use this stuff because its all that that they can get hold of! NOT because its good. You can smuggle a few pounds of military explosive for primers and antipersonnel devices - under-car tiltswitch assasination devices fir example - and a few dozen mercury fulminate fuses or industrial blasting fuses, but NOT enough to mount a campaign, that's why they have to go to these extremes. And always ALWAYS be wary of ANYTHING recreated for court use because its created in circumstances and facilities terrorists would give their eye teeth to get using!

...AND DONE TO GET A CONVICTION FROM AN IMPRESSIONABLE JURY...

After all, what on earth does a "recreation" of a possible event have to do with the facts of what happened and what these guys are guilty of? It can show what might have been, but it needs and probably was clearly stated by the judge that this was a recreation only. As the security operation that nabbed these guys STOPPED this happening, a video like this wouldn't be admissible as "evidence" only "guidance". But it still lodges in the mind - that's WHY it's done.... AND I'm quite sure that all the down sides as described above were nnever mentioned in court....as this was "only" guidance...! This would only occur IF an independant private forensic scientist testified for the defence - and these are few and far between.

[phylo_roadking]

....and ITN certainly didn't say a word about the difficulty in creating, storing and getting this stuff to actually explode. That's the spin....

If it was THAT easy we'd ALL be doing it!!!

[panzerschreck1]

Didn't Timothy mcVay in Oklahoma used a similair bomb in a van parked outside the shopping hall to bring down large parts of it..such a van can act as a devastating fragmentation bomb...but to certainly bring down a structure like a mall one needs to look at the structure itself, but ususally shopping malls are more made out og glass than reinforced concrete so the glass would had acted also as deadly shrapnell...to bad such effective blasts by Mc Veigh are used as an example.

[Paddy Keating]

There are more people on the sex-offenders register in the UK than there are members of the RESPECT Party.

Speaking as a former inmate of British public schools, I have to say that this is not surprising.

PK