Human Rights Lunacy: Police Wrong to Detain Dangerous Sheikh... Because They Didn't Explain The Reasons in Arabic!

Sheikh Raed Salah has won compensation for being wrongly detained in Britain due to procedural impropriety on behalf of the law enforcement services.

Theresa May wished to detain the pro-Palestian activist who had been making a 10 day visit. The Home Secretary feared he might pose a danger to the peace because of his radical views including his conspiracy theory that Jews were warned to leave the twin towers before the 9/11 attacks while thousands of Muslims working there perished.

The issues at the heart of the legal case, which considered the legality of the attempted detainment of Raed Salah, were: (1) whether it was right to attempt to deport Raed Salah given he intended to return home anyway; (2)whether Raed Salah could be dealt with under the guidelines for dangerous foriegn national prisoners; and finally, (3) whether the reasons given to Raed Salah for his deportation adequately explained to him.

This third argument was very important to  the judge, Hon. Mr Justice Nicol , who felt that it was wrong of the police not to have immediately informed Raed Salah of the reasons in his native tongue, Arabic. By not doing so the judge felt that Sheikh Salah's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated. Justice Nicol said there "had not been a prompt explanation of the reasons for his detention in a language which he could understand".

Tony Blair the Neocon

The newspapers are reporting today that Tony Blair is no longer respected by Palestinian groups in his role as a Middle East Peace Envoy. The PLO have drawn up a motion to declare Blair a persona non grata because of his perceived 'pro-Israel' bias. Mr Blair will not be helped in defending this accusation of bias by stories that have been coming out over recent weeks about Blair using his position to aid Israeli companies, and an alleged affair with an Israeli tycoon.

One group you wouldn't expect Blair to receive much sympathy from are those on the right of the political spectrum. To name a few of their grievances, British conservatives and small 'c' liberals,  see Blair as a socialist who pretended to be on the side of business; a corrupt prime minister whose Chancellor spent excessively and a man hell bent on a policy of multi-culturalism which made social cohesion a thing of the past in Britain.

However, when it comes to foreign affairs Blair has a pretty right wing track record. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq became all about ensuring democracy and liberalism in very religious Islamic societies. This approach was what Blair called "liberal interventionism" but it is what Americans call "neoconservative". It was here that Blair and Bush were almost always on the same page.

Ivring Kristol famously declared that "A neoconservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality". Blair's rhetoric on the problem the world faces from radical Islam is very strong and would indicate that he has indeed been mugged. In his book My Journey, Blair writes about the dangerous level of sympathy Islamic terrorists receive from Muslims of all levels of faith and observance- not just radicals.

The Palestinians plan to oust Blair from his role and unsurprisingly right wingers don't seem to be rushing to his defence. But if Blair does go, and a new envoy comes along who is more acceptable to the Palestinians, conservatives might actually miss him for once.

Socialist Admits the Left are too Cosy with Anti-Semites in Today's Guardian

Today's Guardian (26/09/11) contains an article about the shameful links between anti-Semites and socialists by trade unionist Andy Newman. Newman intelligently goes through examples of heroes to those on the left who are not merely opposed to Zionism but are, in fact, full of hatred towards Jews.

Newman gives the example of the Jazz musician Gilad Atzmon who is venerated by leftists including the Socialist Workers Party. Atzmon has written about the differences of "Jewish Marxism...which...is there to mould Marxist dialectic into a Jewish subservient precept".

By admitting that anti-Semitism, dressed up as anti-Zionism, is a real problem that the left has to face, Newman does not teach us anything new, but he should be applauded for criticising his political allies. Left-wing movements around the world would do well to heed Newman's call.

Van Rompuy: "EU is the Fatherland of Democracy"

In an incredibly conceited statement, Van Rompuy claims the EU is the fatherland (and to be P.C. he adds motherland) of democracy.

To demonstrate this point he highlights his very own appointment as President of the Council. Where once the Presidency was taken up by the head of one of the member states, it is now headed by an independent figure. Van Rompuy says this means where before the President acted in his or her own nation state's interest, now the President acts on behalf of all of Europe.

This begs the question, if the EU Council President's Office is now so legitimate that it can objectively represent the whole Union, could Van Rompuy along with Baroness Ashton put together a common foreign policy towards Palestine's statehood bid?  The newspapers from the last few months indicate that they tried and failed.

The question is not: when will the EU hold the level of democratic legitimacy to be capable of representing all member states on the world stage, rather, the question is, will it ever?

Europe Seeing Dangerous Increase in Social Hostilities Relating to Religion

At a fascinating meeting of the Henry Jackson Society in a House of Commons Committee Room yesterday, Dr. Brian Grim talked about the worrying findings of his new book: The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the 21st Century (Cambridge Uni. Press, 2011).

Dr Grim highlighted the startling rate at which social hostilities relating to religion are increasing in Europe based on his research looking at the years from mid-2006 to mid-2009. Five of the 10 countries around the world that had a substantial increase in social hostilities were in Europe: Bulgaria, Denmark, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. These hostilities relate to all sorts of events which now feature commonly in the news in these countries: attacks against places of worship, violent demonstrations held by religious groups and terrorist attacks.

There can be no doubt the root of this problem in Europe is bad policy. The high rate of immigration into Europe, coupled with the high degree of movement between people in Europe is having a devastating effect upon the extent of social cohesion in various European nations.

UKIP has the right policy in this area. To curb this rise in social hostilities, we must reduce the number of immigrants coming to Britain from Europe and the wider world. This is the only sensible policy to protect minority communities and religious freedom.