A quote from the press release of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, 21 January 2009 The Court of Appeal has considered that the contested views of Wilders (also as shown in his movie Fitna) constitute a criminal offence according to Dutch law as seen in connection with each other, both because of their contents and the method of presentation. This method of presentation is characterized by biased, strongly generalizing phrasings with a radical meaning, ongoing reiteration and an increasing intensity, as a result of which hate is created. According to the Court of Appeal most statements are insulting as well since these statements substantially harm the religious esteem of the Islamic worshippers. According to the Court of Appeal Wilders has indeed insulted the Islamic worshippers themselves by affecting the symbols of the Islamic belief as well. A wave of violent protest demonstrations struck Europe in the wake of the recent events in Gaza. Despite efforts of the media to downplay the incidents, ordinary Europeans realize that the vandals who demonstrate against Israel in Europe’s streets are almost exclusively youths of immigrant Muslim origin. The protests have been accompanied by anti-Semitic rants and attacks on Jewish citizens. Leftist Europeans joined in by demanding a boycott of Israeli products and local Jewish businesses. Even mainstream politicians joined the chorus of Israel bashing, hoping to attract the support of the growing Muslim electorate in Western Europe. This moment in history, destined to be a where-were-you moment for the present crop of twentysomethings, was mostly missed by me. A morning en route from California to Texas via the miracle of aviation left me with a few minutes in the Phoenix airport, where I did not watch the televised Inauguration in progress, but rather those watching it. The scene is now familiar to anyone who has watched the watchers of Barack Obama over the past year: misty-eyed, rapt, mostly young, mostly female, disproportionately minority — and strangely possessed by a weird admixture of joy and anxiety that recalls nothing so much as the aftermath of a difficult birth. Perhaps this is no accident: the circumstances that produced the new President are difficult indeed, with war and recession only the beginning of the national troubles. This assumes that he is a product of circumstance, though, and so may not give him due credit for the most extraordinary act of social climbing since Jay Gatsby.Dutch Disgrace
Some Good News from Europe
The Moment When Our Planet Began to Heal
Thursday, 22 January 2009
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Wed, 2009-01-21 18:06
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From the desk of Paul Belien on Wed, 2009-01-21 13:09
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From the desk of Joshua Trevino on Wed, 2009-01-21 10:39
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