Adolf Hitler realized the importance of having a good press. In Nazi Germany with its press censorship, it was easy for Hitler to have a good press. However, during the 1930s the Nazis also tried to control the media in the neighboring European countries that Hitler was planning to invade. The Nazis bullied the democratically elected governments in these countries to censor everything that resembled what today might be called “Naziphobia” – criticism of Nazism.

A quote from Lawrence Auster at his weblog, 25 March 2008

Muslims are a “disaster” for us. That’s what [Mark] Steyn said.

Now, if it is an illegal act of hatred to stir up animosity against a group, then to say that a certain group represents a “disaster” for us would certainly seem to fit that description. […] If there is any legitimate scope for anti-hate laws, statements such as Steyn’s would seem to come within it.

On 10 January we posted a link to a documentary about Islam. This was an academic documentary, no cartoons nor insults. This morning we received the following message from Sagunto, our Dutch friend who had posted the original video at Youtube:

Censorship-alert! This morning I received several messages from the YouTube "service-team" which stated that the video's featuring the docu: Islam, what the West needs to know (with my Dutch subtitles) were removed from my account, due to "inappropriate content" after they were being flagged by some users. You at BJ provided a link to the vid's (thnx for that), but alas, it will be out of order from this day on :-(

A quote by Robert Spencer at Jihadwatch, 24 March 2008

By now the idea is spreading all over the place that there is no movie Fitna, and never will be - that Geert Wilders simply announced that there would be to expose Islamic intolerance. […]

A quote from Corriere della Sera, 23 March 2008

An outspoken muslim author and critic of Islamic fundamentalism who converted to Christianity at the hands of Pope Benedict said on Sunday he realised he was in greater danger but he has no regrets. “I realise what I am going up against but I will confront my fate with my head high, with my back straight and the interior strength of one who is certain about his faith” said Magdi Allam.

Writing in Sunday’s edition of the leading Corriere della Sera, the newspaper of which he is a deputy director, Allam said: “... the root of evil is innate in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictual”. […]

Network Solutions, an American internet service provider, has closed down the website that the Dutch polician Geert Wilders reserved to post “Fitna,” his 15-minute movie about the Quran. So far, no-one has seen “Fitna,” nor does anyone know what it will be like, although it will be critical of Islam.

Network Solutions says it closed down the site because it received complaints related to the film. Network Solutions also cites technical reasons for suspending the site, including the anticipated “excessive use of services” by onlookers who could overload and crash the site. Apparently this is a problem Network Solutions is incapable of providing network solutions for. Apart from being chicken Network Solutions is clearly also incompetent.

The bits in the mosaic of our time get overlooked as we focus on the big chunks. This column presents some of the details that might deserve attention.
 
1. Used to quick results, Americans are impatient. Therefore, they wind up as sprinters in marathon runs. Additionally, the Yanks see themselves as being appreciated for services rendered and attribute a high value to “being liked.” The result is that credible threats, are ignored. Therefore, the average American underestimates the hostility directed at his system, his government and his person.

An article from AJM (Alain-Jean Mairet) reveals the collaboration of Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey with Iran. When I first saw the photo above I had trouble grasping who or what that was on the left. But it is indeed Mme Calmy-Rey, looking like a mummy with tissue paper on her head and concluding a deal with the president of Iran to purchase cheap Iranian gas.

A quote from Life Site, 19 March 2008

A committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has now officially recommended that those few countries in Europe that still restrict abortions should guarantee unrestricted access to abortion. The draft resolution from the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men says countries should "decriminalise abortion, if they have not already done so." The Committee also recommended that sex education be made mandatory for young people. […]

No it’s not the political end of Nicolas Sarkozy. The local election results as discouraging as they are, they are neither the cause nor the origin of Sarkozy’s decline. If someone wanted to trace the present difficulties and future failures of Sarkozy one has to look back at his political campaign for the presidency.