Four great postings at IBA

Four must reads from the Infidel Bloggers Alliance (IBA).

Leftie Stops By IBA - His Conclusion? The Right Is Winning The Cartoon Wars
Excerpt:

Those on the Left or in the Muslim community who think the Cartoon Wars have benefited either of us are terribly mistaken. The Cartoon Wars have been a shot in the arm for the Right in the US, Israel and Europe and they have been catastrophic for Islam. Sure, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis, the jihadists and all of their primitivist ilk are milking this thing for everything they can.

But for moderate, sane Muslims, for the Muslim World in general, and for the Left in the West, the Cartoon Wars are bad news.

The Left has ended up siding with a bunch of primitivist, misogynistic, reactionary, Medievalist dolts who have been slaughtering our comrades for decades now.

Are The Ents Awakening?

Excerpt:

The Vatican has issued a statement calling for Muslims to be more tolerant and less hypocritical:

“If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us,” Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s Secretary of State (prime minister), told journalists in Rome.

“We must always stress our demand for reciprocity in political contacts with authorities in Islamic countries and, even more, in cultural contacts,” Foreign Minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo told the daily Corriere della Sera.

Reciprocity — allowing Christian minorities the same rights as Muslims generally have in Western countries, such as building houses of worship or practicing religion freely — is at the heart of Vatican diplomacy toward Muslim states.

The Devil and the Deep Green Sea
Excerpts:

That this is so predictable makes it all the more depressing. If the British government allows fanatic mobs to scream for beheadings and murder then the government cannot be surprised when rightists use official passitivity as a campaign issue. If the media rigorously surpresses the cartoons then of course the BNP is going to use them to mobilize voters or just for the shock value and the free press.

The British and other European governments and media cannot simultaneously appease Islamists and marginalize the "far-right." The very act of appeasing Islamists empowers the nationalists. Any compromise with the nationalists would infuriate the Islamists. And I'm sure the Europeans will soon find a way to anger them both.

Since WWII Europe has fought to rid itself of the "far-right, nationalist" Devil. Now Europe is increasingly trapped between the descendents of that Devil and the Islamist deep green sea.

I wish the other Western governments would have the same guts (or are they just afraid of loosing voters?)

Australian Government: If You Believe In Sharia, Go Live Somewhere Else
Excerpt:

Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad said Mr Costello had unfairly singled out Muslims and was promoting division and Islamophobia.

But Mr Howard said Mr Costello’s comments were “fundamentally accurate”. “He’s not trying to stir up hostilities with Islamic people any more than I was when I made some comments three days before the Cronulla riots,” Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting in Melbourne.

Mr Costello said Muslim leaders should be pledging themselves and their followers to Australian values before they started criticising him.

“Rather than try and censure me ... they should make a clear statement that they subscribe to all of these views - that they are loyal to Australia, they respect the rights and liberties of others, they believe in democratic government and they believe that all Australians should live unequivocally under the one law made by the Australian parliament - and endorse these values and recommend them to their followers,” Mr Costello told Southern Cross Broadcasting.