90 years on – the Treaty of Versailles

On 28th June 1919 the victors of World War I exacted their retribution on the defeated Germans and Ottomans. Britain, led by the Hellenophile Prime Minister Lloyd George, set up a new world order with disastrous consequences: stoking ambitions for a ‘Greater Greece’ leading to death and destruction on the Turkish mainland; humiliating terms imposed on Germany eventually leading to World War II; British and French mandates over seized Ottoman territories of the Middle East – for which the Muslim world still awaits for justice to be done.

I met her at the TUC Congress in Brighton, what an irony
Met her at Brighton, where we shared a table with Dr Bari
I was surprised by a cabinet minister’s lack of substance
Thankfully the lady with the smirk has her comeuppance

Bellicose pundits grab the headlines with sensationalist claims about Muslims in Britain....but it takes time and effort to obtain public admission of error. The BBC has been taken to task and has admitted libel, thanks to Solicitors Carter Ruck.....

The Department for Communities & Local Government (CLG) "sets policy on local government, housing, urban regeneration, planning and fire and rescue. We have responsibility for all race equality and community cohesion....". However the recent actions of its minister, Hazel Blears MP, suggest that the word 'cohesion' should be replaced with 'disempowerment'.

When the Home Office decided to bar the entry of the Islamophobic Dutch MP and producer of ‘Fitna’ into the UK on 11th February there was much breast-beating, the gnashing of the teeth and talk of the death of free speech. Melanie Phillips rose to new heights of hyperbole : “If anyone had doubted the extent to which Britain has capitulated to Islamic terror, the banning of Geert Wilders should surely open their eyes” (Mail Online, 12th February).

However Wilder's exclusion is far from the extraordinary event it is made out to be - since August 2005, 230 people have been excluded from entering the UK "on suspicion of being a threat to national security or fostering extremism", including "79 preachers of hate".
http://press.homeoffice.gov.uk/press-releases/tough-measures-hate

Afghanistan met General Guthrie's 'just war' criteria! Sir John Keegan, military historian, thought 'orientals' prefered treachery and deceit as the best ways to overcome an enemy! Veteran Catholic economist donning Neo-Con plummage, Michael Novak, rationalised "that a limited and carefully conducted war to bring about a change of regime in Afghanistan was morally obligatory."

Read on.....[a dossier in three parts]

Britain's hastily conceived anti-terrorism/counter-terrorism laws are now affecting society as a whole - and it was not just the high-profile arrest of Damian Green MP and the search of his home....

Date: 14th October; Setting: Le Stade de France, Paris; the Match: a football Friendly France vs Tunisia....what happens next?

Like a wave receding from a beach, the Credit Crunch has exposed all sorts of debris that was previously submerged....new perspectives on the so-called 'War on Terror'

The term 'moderate Muslim' is a much loved one in policy circles. It was brought into prominence in RAND reports such as 'Building Moderate Muslim Networks'... but what is this litmus test? Thanks to the think tanks, the odd MEP and others we now have a good empirical base!