Sunday morning catchup

1) Creeping Sharia report that it was not just the UK's last Labour government that rolled over backwards for the Gaddafi Libyan regime.

'A son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi toured U.S. ports and military facilities just weeks before he helped lead deadly attacks on rebels protesting his father’s authoritarian regime.

Khamis Gadhafi, 27, spent four weeks in the U.S. as part of an internship with AECOM, a global infrastructure company with deep business interests in Libya, according to Paul Gennaro, AECOM’s Senior Vice President for Global Communications. The trip was to include visits to the Port of Houston, Air Force Academy, National War College and West Point, Gennaro said.

The West Point visit was canceled on Feb. 17, when the trip was cut short and Gadhafi returned to Libya, Gennaro said. The uprising there began with a series of protests on Feb. 15.'

2) Haaretz reports that Argentina has no more backbone to stand up to terrorist controlling countries than the UK under the last Labour governmnet:

'In secret negotiations with Iran, Argentina has offered to “forget” the bombings of the Israeli embassy and the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in 1992 and 1994, respectively, in exchange for improved relations between the two countries.

According to the Argentine weekly Perfil, which broke the story yesterday, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman is personally involved in the talks. The Argentinean Foreign Ministry has so far declined comment.

For his report, the veteran investigative reporter Pepe Eliaschev relied on a classified document that indicated the Argentinean government “would be ready to freeze the investigations of terrorist bombings attributed to Iran in 1992 and 1994, in exchange for renewing and improving trade relations between the countries, which at their height reached $ 1.2 billion a year.”

According to the article, Timerman made the offer via Syrian President Bashar Asad and Foreign Minister, Walid Moallem, who were brought in as mediators.

The three met in Syria on January 23, and the details of the conversation were conveyed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.'

3) Archbihop Cranmer thinks that Ed Miliband's speech testerday in which he said "I am Nelson Mandela; I am Emmeline Pankhurst; I am Martin Luther King!" 'has echoes of his predecessor windbag, Neil Kinnock. Except that Ed Miliband is smaller and shriller in every sense.'


4) Big Peace report that:

'Patrick Åserud has had enough of pressure about salami-free food, blond-hate and horrible language skills.

“I will not let my children grow up here. I do not dare to.”

...

“It has become difficult to be an ethnic Norwegian in Groruddalen. There are huge language problems, and additionally a pressure that we [Norwegians] must adjust to norms that feel completely foreign to us, who have a Western lifestyle and mindset.

“There are kindergartens where almost no children or parents speak Norwegian, and there are schools where children are threatened with beatings if they bring salami with them for their school lunch.

“Girls are bullied for being blond, and they colour their hair dark to avoid it and fit in. It is especially not okay to be gay at the school, nor atheist, and especially not Jewish.'

Isn't multculturism grand.


5) JPost reports on the absolute hell that is life in the palesinian West Bank:

'Palestinian new car sales numbers reflect growing prosperity and are one of the best measures to see how the economy is faring.

RAMALLAH -- On a blustery, winter day in Ramallah, new car sales are hot.

“You can see the numbers are escalating tremendously,” says Samech Masri, a Detroit-educated civil engineer and general manager of the United Motor Trade Co., the largest car dealership in Ramallah. “It’s gone from about 1,000 cars to 20,000 cars within about 10 years and that is something to talk about.”

Not nearly as high as the record 216,000 vehicles sold in nearby Israel last year, still, the Palestinian new car sales numbers reflect growing prosperity and are one of the best measures to see how the economy is faring.

Set among swank coffee shops and designer boutiques, Masri’s upscale automobile dealership is the sole importer of Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda vehicles. He accounts for a quarter of all car sales in the West Bank and counts among his clients Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

While peace efforts between the Palestinians and Israelis may be stalled, Fayyad has been pushing ahead with plans to declare a Palestinian state by September. He believes a prospering economy is the best way to wean the Palestinian Authority off international aid, but, as an professional economist and former senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Fayyad sees a free market system as the best way to achieve this goal.'

I presume the BBC will be reporting this good news story about life in the Palestinian territories or does it not meet their narrative?