AN OUTSIDE VIEW

Today's earthquake is a reminder that Afghanistan and Iran sit on top of an earthquake zone. Hopefully a big earthquake will destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities sooner rather than later. The Al Aksa in Jerusalem mosque are also on an active fault. With a bit of luck the next earthquake should reduce it to a pile of rubble. Those of us who follow earthquakes will remember that the Israelis have good rescue equipment, including heavy lifting gear, and were amongst the first to arrive after the Haiti earthquake. This means that they combine doing a good deed with keeping their own people up to date in their training. The Palestinians will then blame the Israelis for not giving them priority when it comes to rescue operations. They will probably also blame the Jews for the earthquake itself.

Recent events have focussed attention on the need for security in places where people gather. So far, there have been incidents involving lone individuals, but organised activity is also a possibility; last week, in a quiet suburb of Gothenburg, a restaurant owned by an Assyrian Christian was sprayed with ISIS slogans – “Convert or die”, “Caliphate is here” and the Arabic “N” (ن) symbol applied to Christian property in places which have been taken over by ISIS. There have been incidents in the recent past which might have been prevented by basic security, including Hisingen fire of 1996 which resulted in 63 deaths, and an attack by a nude swordman on a church in South London in 1999. Catholic churches are at risk because they are well attended, especially those which host congregations membership from Syria and Iraq. A particular difficulty for Catholic churches is that their congregations are large enough for strangers to be able to slip in without being noticed. WE SHOULD NOT BE FR...

In this video , Michael Voris is heavily critical of Pope Benedict's resignation. What is one to make of it? I have always had misgivings about it myself. For a start, what precedent has it set?

Worthing, on the south coast of England, is one of the places where people go to spend their last few years in peace and quiet. That has long been its reputation. It has never been quite true. Trains between Brighton and Worthing can get pretty rowdy late in the evenings especially at weekends. But this from the local paper a couple of days ago is something altogether different. Teenage girl cornered by ten men and sexually assaulted while one brandished knife .

Proposals are being put around for a tax on sugar. The aim is to discourage people from eating food and drinks with sugar. Advocates of this idea have grasped the obvious point that if you tax something, people are discouraged from doing that particular thing. So why do governments persist in raising most of their revenue from taxes on successful legal economic activity - on things like work, goods and services? Do politicians have a few missing vital connections in their thinking apparatus?

Allah rejoices when a Jew is killed, so it is no surprise to read that at Park View Academy in Birmingham , where Muslim took over the board of governors, is promoting antisemitism among its pupils. This has resulted in disciplinary action. The next target needs to be the mosques themselves. If their leaders are promoting antisemitism, then they need to be prosecuted and sentenced if guilty. After that, there needs to be a crackdown on distribution of the Koran itself. An authorised version is required, with the bloodthirsty passages removed. If they are not meant to be taken seriously then they do not need to be there.

The first assumptions following yesterday's school murders at Trolhättan were that the perpetrator was a Muslim. That is in itself significant and indicates the prevailing level of mistrust. It now turns out, however, that the assailant was a weird young man with extreme right-wing interests. Whether he was sane or not, he looks like another in the Breivik mould. Had it been a Muslim, it would have led to a stepping-up of the wanton unpleasantness that identifiable Muslims have to put up with. That it was not, is, to put it mildly, unhelpful to the immigration debate currently in progress in Sweden. Either way, it is an indication that there is a limit to the numbers of newcomers a community can absorb before the tensions become too great, and that the greater the cultural differences between newcomer and host, the smaller the number that can be absorbed. This is a simple and obvious fact that politicians are ignoring. The numbers flowing in as a result of the current Swedish o...

This article , which is not open for comments, criticises Netanyahu for referring to the role of the Palestinian leader from 1920, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. The claim is that the Mufti was responsible to convince the Nazis to go for the Final Solution when he visited the Nazi leaders in 1941. The theory surfaced about a year ago. The timing is right, because the Final Solution was not agreed on until 1942. That does not of course mean that he played a decisive role; it might well have been more like one extra stone that tipped a balance.Certainly he was well aware of what was going on, supported it all the way through and was firm in his opposition to the emigration of Jews to Palestine. My criticism is of the article's silence on all the rest of the Mufti's previous activities. He was encouraging progroms against Jews in Palestine from as early as 1920, when interest in Zionism amongst Jews was minimal and the prospect of any Jewish state was remote. Throughout the 1920s...

An increasing number of newspaper articles no longer have an opportunity to comment, or if they do, then it is closed after a short while.Thus the journalists are withdrawing into an ivory tower where they no longer receive feedback from the public at large. In the internet age, is that people will stop taking notice when what they read does not correspond to what they see on the ground, or to the information that the pick up from the rumour mill. This affects in particular articles on what is the issue of most concern to most people today - immigration. There is a widespread and well-founded fear of a large influx of Muslim immigrants. Unjustified fear of immigration in the past has given rise to the "Cry Wolf" syndrome. This time there is a wolf. The trouble is that, as was to be expected, the populist right has picked up the cause and is running with it, whilst the mainstream politicians are either blind, or too cowardly to admit that there is a wolf. This is poiso...

Catholics should not need to be reminded that what is happening today with the Islamic invasion of Europe is primarily a battle in the spiritual war against the devil. Islamic terrorism works by instilling fear – that is its aim and purpose. If we become terrorised, then the devil has obtained a foothold in our own souls. We must strengthen our own faith and courage. Catholics have nothing to fear. We have the all the angels and saints and the entire company of the heavenly host on our side. We have, in particular, Our Lady, St Michael, St Eric and St Brigit, Patron Saint of Europe. Whilst we do not deliberately seek martyrdom, if it comes, we avoid the torments of purgatory and gain the crown of glory with the saints in heaven. Our first efforts must be to increase our efforts at prayer, including this one which has been neglected for many decades, which was revealed to Pope Leo XIII in a vision in 1884. Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection agains...

The flow of news and comments pieces on the subject of immigration, and in particular, Muslim immigration, continues to rise. Also on the increase is a tendency not to allow comments. In the age of the internet, this will backfire. The mainstream news media are beginning to lose their credibility to the rumour mills. This kind of suppression is a dangerous trend and feeds extremism.

For several years now we have read about attacks on congregations during church services in countries like India and Pakistan, Nigeria, Tanzania and other places where there is a significant Muslim presence. The time has now come when we can expect to see similar things in Western Europe, for example in Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and, probably at the top of the list – Sweden. ISIS has arrived in force in Göteborg and other Swedish cities. Members of the Islamic group have been present for several years. Their supporters stand in the main shopping centre in Göteborg every week, but the activists have previously travelled away to the Middle East to commit their war crimes. Some have now returned. More have come with the flow of refugees, as ISIS announced they would. Estimates are that several dozen arrived each week. At one refugee residence in West Sweden, a reliable source expressed the view that nearly all the men living there were ISIS; a single Christian from Dama...

Islamic body count.

Perceptive comment in a response to a an article in the Guardian. The comment was about an article in the Guardian. "Countries with a Jew obsessed leadership generally come unstuck. This is NOT because Jews are so powerful that they are able to disrupt and destroy our enemies. Rather it is because leaders with that kind of madness generally make terrible choices. Jew obsession is a reliable leading indicator of terrible things to come - Syria being an excellent example." The comment applies equally well to Israel obsession and Iraq is another example. It makes one wonder where countries like Sweden are heading.

The unfolding mess in Sweden is the consequence of a national character which is mixture of good intentions and hubristic arrogance about the country's ability to cure all the world's problems, combined with lack of sound reason and an understanding of history. In normal circumstances it could have got away with it but the combination of a grand coalition with current events has produced a series of bad decisions across all policy areas. Just a thought.

"Racist" has become a meaningless term. It is just a way of saying that you disagree with what someone is say without having to bother to say why, whilst at the same time trying to claim the moral high ground.

The events which led up to the 1967 Six-Day War and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. On May 16, 1967, Egyptian President Gamel Abdul Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Force stationed between Israel and Egypt to evacuate the Sinai. Two days later the Voice of the Arabs proclaimed, "As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel… The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence." Extermination of Jewish existence. Now, you could argue maybe they mean the state. On May 20, 1967, Syrian Defense Minister, Hafez Al-Assad proclaimed, "Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilat...

Too many people still think that Islam is just another religion. It is not. Islam is primarily a political programme whose aim is to spread totalitarian theocratic rule under Sharia Law. A significant feature of Islam is its antisemitism, which was present from the outset. Once Sharia Law is in place, Jews and Christians become Dhimmis and subject to the ruinous Jizya tax, humiliating regulations and other restrictions - it is forbidden to repair or enlarge places of worship and all external signs must be removed. Islamic antisemitism has theological roots and from the earliest times Muslim authors were producing texts similar in style and tone to Nazi propaganda. The animosity, which is found amongst around 90% of all Muslims, has nothing whatsoever to do with Israel. Jew killing is regarded as pleasing to Allah. It is a mystery why members of the liberal-left get so angry and throw accusations of racism when this is pointed out. The Islamic programme contracts everything that left-...

Indonesia and Malaysia are sometimes quoted as examples of moderately Islamic countries. They are indeed better than most.Indonesia only part of the Muslim hegemony relatively recently, and reluctantly, when it was invaded by armies with the express purpose of spreading Islam. Only Bali is now Hindu. That has been the target of numerous bombings. Indonesia's invasion of East Timor was, characteristically, followed by a mass slaughter of Christians, estimates range from between 200,000 and a million. Indonesia is only relatively mildly Islam because sharia law was rolled back under the Dutch. It is now returning in force, with sharia police in more and more places . The other milder Muslim country, Malaysia, is also the way it is as part of the post-colonial legacy. Their radical Muslims are busy causing trouble in neighbouring Thailand.