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The Greatest Change in the History of Europe - the Impact of Immigration & Islam
Aug 26th, 2009
Commentaryeuropenews.dk
Categories: Commentary;Warning

This mild-mannered, mainstream journalist's predictions for Europe's future are devastating, says Ed West. 

You might not hear about this book (Reflections on the Revolution in Europe by Christopher Caldwell) much in the next month, nor even in the next year, but it will affect your life in some way, and that of our country and continent.

Christopher Caldwell is a mild-mannered Financial Times journalist who over the past decade has covered continental Europe (France especially) and its relationship with Islam in particular.

That Caldwell is so mainstream, well-respected and analytical makes his conclusion all the more devastating - that the mass migration of Africans and Asians into Europe since the Second World War was an unprecedented, economically unnecessary and ill-thought-out plan that has had a profoundly negative impact on our way of life.

Furthermore, he says, the mass importation of Muslims at a time when Europe has lost its own faith and Islam has developed a dangerous and powerful radicalism threatens the very freedom of Europe.

Enoch Powell was right, at least in accuracy if not morality. His 1968 prediction about a non-white population of 4.5 million by 2002 was mocked - in reality it was 4.6 million by 2001.

In 1970 he was again scorned for suggesting that Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Inner London would be between a fifth and a quarter non-white by the turn of the century. The figures were 22.2 per cent, 29.6 per cent and 34.4 per cent and rising.

But Powell's predictions of "rivers of blood" turned out to be inaccurate so far because he was out of step; the Tory MP was a passionate believer in the British Empire, while most of his political contemporaries were riddled with liberal white guilt over colonialism and the Holocaust.

Such self-loathing was at the heart of the immigration experiment and later experiments in multiculturalism and political correctness; only a society so racked with self-hatred would have invited foreign labour in such numbers despite the economic benefits being so thin. The economic benefits in the long term, Caldwell argues, have been "puny" and short-term, while the social effects are profound and permanent.

Most of the new immigrants, such as Pakistanis in Yorkshire and Turks in the Ruhr valley, were actually recruited into industries that were already on their last legs, and most immigrant groups took and still take more out of their exchequer then they pay in.

For the indigenous European poor, in particular, immigration has made life harder, but for everyone it brings challenges ("challenges" being a euphemism for problems).

Illegal immigration is handy because illegal immigrants do the jobs no one else wants to, keeping down inflation and labour costs, so allowing Europeans to work 30 hours a week and retire at 55.

The problem is that soon these new immigrants tire of doing the dirty work and new recruits are needed to keep an ever larger number of retirees and other state dependants in villas.

It is a gigantic Ponzi scheme - play today, pay tomorrow - and Europe is starting to pay now, financially and socially. The integration of Pakistanis, Algerians, Moroccans and Turks into England, France, Holland and Germany has been made a lot harder by the rapid and widespread decline of Christianity.

One of the side-effects is the collapse in the European birth rate: Austria is becoming Islamic not because Muslims are having too many children - their birth rate of 2.34 per woman is very close to the optimum - but because atheism is killing the country. Among Austrians who call themselves Catholics, which includes a majority of non-churchgoers and other nominal Christians, the birth rate is 1.32; among those who profess atheism it is 0.86. It is the same everywhere - in Brussels the seven most common boys' names are Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza. Leicester and Birmingham will soon be Britain's first-ever majority non-white cities.

And yet the elites have been in total denial about the growth of a Muslim body, arguing that to do so ignores diversity among these communities - which Caldwell compares to denying there is such a thing as a car because Volvos and Volkswagens are different.

As well as growing in size every year, this Muslim population is dis-integrating from the European mainstream; children in German Muslim schools learns six hours of Arabic a day and one of German; in England the veil has become a widespread sight; a British brigade fought in Iraq for al-Qaeda; and Muslim "nationalism" in France has led to the creation of suburban ghettos far worse than anyone realises.

Caldwell compares the French ghetto film L'Haine, which portrayed a mixed Jewish and Arab gang, to West Side Story in its realism.

That simply would not happen in a Muslim suburb. The ironic end result of this post-Holocaust guilt is a surge in anti-Semitism at the end of the century, and a Muslim bloc that has pushed Europe in an increasingly anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic direction. Norway threatened to boycott Israeli goods at the same time as Norwegians were being attacked in Gaza over the Mohammed cartoon affair. In France there were black African gangs like Tribu Ka, who roamed around Jewish areas like a "postmodern Freikorps".

The collapse of Christianity, and the introduction of novel morals such as the belief in sexual freedom, totally at odds with both Muslim culture and European culture of only half a century ago, has made conflict between Europe and the new Europeans even harder. That is why surveys consistently show Muslims and non-Muslims thinking the other side are "disrespectful" to women, or why a large minority of young British Muslims advocate the death penalty for apostasy.

Can Europe be the same? Clearly not. Can we reach some happy compromise that peacefully integrates such large communities and avoids the conflicts that have plagued such multi-cultural countries in the past? Probably not.

Pim Fortuyn in Holland offered the best hope of a non-racist, liberal Europe that believed in itself; after his murder the future lies either with Nicolas Sarkozy, who believes in republican integration, or the likes of Geert Wilders, whose hostility to Islam is increasingly shared across Europe.

This is a fascinating, earth-shattering account of the most radical change in European history.

Report: Obama Leverages Iran to Extract Israeli Concessions
Aug 26th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

US President Barack Obama has more or less officially offered Israel firm pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program if Israel agrees to stop building homes for Jews in areas claimed by the Palestinian Arabs.

That according to a report in London's Guardian newspaper that cited Israeli, US, Palestinian and European officials.

According to the proposal outlined in the article, Obama would put heavy diplomatic pressure on Iran and possibly even impose new sanctions if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu halted most current construction projects and refused to approve any new ones in Judea, Samaria and the eastern half of Jerusalem.

Commentators noted that Obama appears to not see Iran's nuclear program as a threat to US security, and so feels free to use it as a bargaining chip to obtain concessions from Israel.

Last week a source in Netanyahu's office pointed out that the prime minister has already refused to approve any new building projects in the disputed areas since taking office in March. However, halting current building projects could result in a political and judicial storm at home.

Prior to meeting with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in London on Wednesday, Netanyahu said Israel and the US were very close to smoothing out their differences regarding the natural growth of Jewish towns. The prime minister said the conclusion that issue and a resumption of official peace talks with the Palestinians should take place by the end of next month.

Meanwhile, a poll conducted by the Maagar Mohot survey institute on Sunday showed that a 52 percent majority of Israelis oppose any kind of building freeze in already established Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and especially in Jerusalem.

Nearly 75 percent of respondents said that if Israel gives in now on this issue, Obama will pressure Netanyahu to maintain the building freeze indefinitely, even if the Arabs fail to respond with the hoped for political gestures.

Mortars in Ashkelon, Stabbing in Hebron
Aug 26th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

Palestinian terrorist forces operating out of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip fired several mortar shells toward the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon on Monday evening. A small kibbutz on the outskirts of Ashkelon was hit by the barrage, and one person was wounded by shrapnel.

It was the first mortar attack from Gaza in months.

On Wednesday morning, Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a young Palestinian Arab man who as trying to stab them in the biblical Judean town of Hebron.

A small number of Jews continue to live in the city that was once capital of David's kingdom, but are beset on all sides by hostile Arab elements.

Jewish Prayers on Temple Mount 'a Violation of International Law'
Aug 26th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

Taking their misinterpretation of international law to new heights, the Arab League this week accused the Jews of Israel of violating the rules that govern global behavior by praying atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

The incident occurred on Sunday, when the head of the Temple Institute led a small group of Jewish tourists atop the Temple Mount. Israeli police at the site forbid non-Muslims from praying there or making any kind of outward religious gestures, such as kneeling or bowing.

But the Temple Institute told Israel National News that the group managed to hold a very brief prayer session without being detected.

After reading about the Jewish prayers at Judaism's holiest site, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called them "a serious blow to the holiness of the site."

Moussa insisted that under international law, Jews and Christians are forbidden from praying atop the Muslim-controlled Temple Mount.

Israeli PM tells European leaders that Jews have been building in Jerusalem for three thousand years
Aug 26th, 2009
News UpdateJimmy DeYoung
Categories: Jimmy DeYoung News

As the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with the British PM Gordon Brown, the British leader urged Netanyahu to halt settlement construction in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem, to which the Israeli PM said that Jerusalem is not a settlement, it is the capital of the sovereign state of Israel.

Brown said the UK was and is a loyal friend to Israel, but that the settlements, including the old city of Jerusalem, are what impedes the two-state solution to which Netanyahu reminded PM Brown that Jews have been building and living in Jerusalem for three thousand years.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

In the days before the Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns to the earth, the European leaders will push the Jews on the control of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, according to Bible prophecy.

Israeli PM Netanyahu's visit to Europe to meet with European leaders was designed to have the Israeli leader give the reasons for a Jewish presence and in fact, an expanding presence in the old city of Jerusalem and the territories of Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu has been informing European leaders that the Jewish state has sovereignty over its capital city of Jerusalem and will make no concessions on where Jews can build or buy in Jerusalem. Netanyahu also said that Jews will continue to have a normal life in the disputed areas of Judea and Samaria.

The ancient Jewish prophets wrote of a scenario that we can see being played out right now between Europe and Israel. Daniel revealed that the Old Roman Empire would be revived in the last days and become a major political power in the world with a focus on the Middle East and especially Israel and Jerusalem, Daniel 7:7-24. Zechariah said Jerusalem would be the focus of controversy, Zechariah 12:2 and Daniel wrote that a European leader, the Antichrist, would bring about a short-lived peace to the conflict, Daniel 9:27.

As the European leaders continue to apply pressure on Israel over Jerusalem and the settlements, Bible prophecy moves very close to fulfillment.

Iraq Suffers As the Euphrates River Dwindles
Aug 26th, 2009
Daily NewsNew York Times - CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Categories: Today's Headlines;Prophecy

Commentary: the Tornado, the Lutherans, and Homosexuality
Aug 26th, 2009
Daily Newsdesiringgod.org
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning;Apostasy

I saw the fast-moving, misshapen, unusually-wide funnel over downtown Minneapolis from Seven Corners. I said to Kevin Dau, “That looks serious.” 

It was. Serious in more ways than one. A friend who drove down to see the damage wrote, 

On a day when no severe weather was predicted or expected...a tornado forms, baffling the weather experts—most saying they’ve never seen anything like it. It happens right in the city. The city: Minneapolis.

The tornado happens on a Wednesday...during the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's national convention in the Minneapolis Convention Center. The convention is using Central Lutheran across the street as its church. The church has set up tents around it’s building for this purpose. 

According to the ELCA’s printed convention schedule, at 2 PM on Wednesday, August 19, the 5th session of the convention was to begin. The main item of the session: “Consideration: Proposed Social Statement on Human Sexuality.” The issue is whether practicing homosexuality is a behavior that should disqualify a person from the pastoral ministry. 

The eyewitness of the damage continues: 

This curious tornado touches down just south of downtown and follows 35W straight towards the city center. It crosses I94. It is now downtown. 

The time: 2PM. 

The first buildings on the downtown side of I94 are the Minneapolis Convention Center and Central Lutheran. The tornado severely damages the convention center roof, shreds the tents, breaks off the steeple of Central Lutheran, splits what’s left of the steeple in two...and then lifts. 

Let me venture an interpretation of this Providence with some biblical warrant. 

1. The unrepentant practice of homosexual behavior (like other sins) will exclude a person from the kingdom of God. 

The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) 

2. The church has always embraced those who forsake sexual sin but who still struggle with homosexual desires, rejoicing with them that all our fallen, sinful, disordered lives (all of us, no exceptions) are forgiven if we turn to Christ in faith. 

Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11) 

3. Therefore, official church pronouncements that condone the very sins that keep people out of the kingdom of God, are evil. They dishonor God, contradict Scripture, and implicitly promote damnation where salvation is freely offered. 

4. Jesus Christ controls the wind, including all tornados. 

Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? (Mark 4:41) 

5. When asked about a seemingly random calamity near Jerusalem where 18 people were killed, Jesus answered in general terms—an answer that would cover calamities in Minneapolis, Taiwan, or Baghdad. God’s message is repent, because none of us will otherwise escape God’s judgment. 

Jesus: “Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5) 

6. Conclusion: The tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin. Turn from the promotion of behaviors that lead to destruction. Reaffirm the great Lutheran heritage of allegiance to the truth and authority of Scripture. Turn back from distorting the grace of God into sensuality. Rejoice in the pardon of the cross of Christ and its power to transform left and right wing sinners.