Cyber Wars

Net war:

• Cyber-attack finding more targets


• Denmark subject of cyber-attacks


• More on the Cyber-Jihad


• Danish counter-attacks


• The cyber-jihad goes on

The cartoons that started all of this can be found here. This gives new meaning to "thin-skinned".

CaribPundit says, Buy Danish

I'm not talking pastries. I'm talking about products from Denmark. The Islamic world is mounting a boycott of Denmark, whose PM Arne Rasmussen is standing up for our Western values of freedom of the press and freedom of speech.

Support for Denmark cannot just be verbal. It must be real, concrete. Here's some of the stuff you can buy.

Read the rest of the article for the list.

French Canaries Are Dropping

From Their Perches In The Coal Mine

A French comic is a candidate for President. His funniest joke:

He announced that he will be running on an anti-neocon ticket during a presentation which was laden with references to Jewish control of French media and politics.
. . . . .
He defended recent remarks made by the Iranian President which were "extremely hostile towards the State of Israel and its racist, colonialist policies". He went on to say that recent remarks made by the Iranian President "were in no way antiSemitic".

See No Pasaran! for the link. If you doubt that a comedian could be a serious Presidential candidate in France, consider the popularity of Jerry Lewis and this:

Stating that "homosexual behaviour endangers the survival of humanity" and that "heterosexuality is morally superior to homosexuality" can cost you dearly in France. Exactly these opinions, expressed by the French politician Christian Vanneste last year, led to him being sentenced on Tuesday to payment of a heavy fine.

Is freedom of speech not part of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité"?

Perhaps we could pose that question to Al Franken, another comedian with political aspirations. Mr. Franken should pay attention to political developments in France as he will need a new outlet for those aforementioned political aspirations following his future failed Senatorial candidacy in Minnesota. This would not be an inconceivable career path for Mr. Franken as he is very "French" in his political philosophy. On the other hand, he is not as funny as Jerry Lewis.

WMD In Syria

Are Iraq's WMD in Syria? More on this from Barcepundit.

When Voting Is A Strategery

The best laid plans of mice and men . . .

From Barcepundit:

"I voted Hamas so that my own Fatah Party would be shocked and change its ways," he said, giving his name only as Mohamed, in the Palmeira cafe in Gaza City. "I thought Hamas would come second.

"But this is a game that went too far. Nobody thought Hamas would win - even them. I know lots of people who voted Hamas, who regret it now. If I could vote again, I would vote for Fatah."

On Practical Atheism

We get an analysis of the Troubled Continent from Michael Novak.

There are still pockets of will and vitality. But having turned away from Jewish and Christian faith, a Europe based solely upon the Enlightenment cannot long survive. The Europe that is declining in population is a Europe more rational than Europe has ever been, more scientific, less religious, less pious, more mundane, wealthier, more consumerist, more universally close to living etsi Deus non daretur (as if God does not exist). A very large part of the "European crisis" is the crisis of the Enlightenment. On that ground, a civilization cannot be built, a civilization can only burn down to the last waxed threads of its wick.

For the beginning of culture is cult. Apart from the worship of God, human beings cannot in practice (whatever may be said in theory) transcend themselves--not, at least, in the large numbers needed to sustain a civilization. Unless human beings have a vision of something larger than their own natures, and beyond the bounds of their own natures, they cannot be pulled out of themselves; they cannot be inspired; and they will not aspire, in the way that Gothic steeples aspire. To be sure, there areFrom Michael Novak secular ways to interpret the word "transcendence": as some potential already within human beings to break their own records, to go beyond what has already been achieved in order to achieve new marks, and the like. But that is not the sort of transcendence on which civilizations are built. Real transcendence is from outside, a new form of life, a new human nature, an uplifting into participation in the divine. This transcendence is known to all religions, and is sensed by many artists. It is a new dimension of the human spirit, which does not spring from human potential, but is given from outside. It is experienced as an uplifting, a newness, a vision and a vitality not within one's own powers to achieve or to deserve. It comes as a gift.

Only the type of transcendence that points to the divine inspires a civilization or a culture, properly so called. Ancient Chinese culture, worldly in its practical Confucian wisdom, aspired to harmony with the stars and the will of Heaven. As yeast lifts dough, so the great religions of the world have informed and inspired cultures. A merely secular culture instead reduces human beings to creatures of chance, deprives them of any end for which they were purposely created, and renders universal moral principles into pragmatic bargains or subjective personal preferences. While it often promotes highly moral living, a secular culture can give few reasons for such living except personal preference, and in ethical practice it frequently borrows a sensibility and even concepts formed by an earlier religious heritage. The social morals of a secular culture these days tend also to depend upon moral credits stored up in the past. Even such supposedly secular values as compassion, liberty, fraternity, and equality sprang first from Jewish and Christian moral commitments, as even Richard Rorty notices--not from Greece or Rome or any purely philosophical source.

Read the rest of the article to understand how this relates to "A Crisis of Demography--and of the Spirit". (Hat tip to EU Referendum.)

Updates On Ukrainian Natural Gas

• The Brussels Journal:
  1. Dear Socialized (and Freezing) Europe

• From Kiev Ukraine News Blog:
  1. Ukraine Has No Gas Left
  2. Bitter Cold Kills 181 In Ukraine
  3. Ukraine Threatens To Turn Off Gas
  4. Signature Of Ukraine-Russia Gas Deal Put Off Again
  5. Ukraine Admits Withholding Russian Gas Meant for Europe

The Ukraine will make a mistake if it destroys it's remaining strategic Backfire bomber Tu-22M3 and its X-22 cruise missiles. They should, instead threaten to use them and the West would fall all over itself to build nuclear power plants for them. At least that's how it worked with North Korea. Instead we will all stand by while Russia starves the Ukraine for heat, much as we did when Russia starved them for food.

Hummus, Humus, Hamas

One is food, one is dirt and one is lower than dirt. Just an opinion about murdering women and children, for what it's worth.

Black And Right

From The Brussels Journal: Racist Murder Shocks Brussels Africans is a report about racial tensions between Moroccans and black Africans, which yielded this interesting bit of sociology:

The bishop’s letter was sent on the very day that the results were published of a survey which showed that in Flanders, Belgium’s Dutch-speaking and traditionally Catholic northern half, only 3,7 percent of the population still goes to church on Sundays. This is one of the lowest rates in Europe. Belgium has ceased to be a religious country in spite of the fact that over 70 percent of all children attend (government subsidized) Catholic schools that are run by the bishops.

Read the full story to find out why a Socialist Mayor believes Muslim criminal gangs will further his political career. It seems, however, to build support among black Belgians for the rightist opposition.

If This Is Europe's Silver Lining,

Then Where Is The Cloud?

From ¿No Pasaran!: Competitive Economies in Europe: Truth or Fiction?

Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are rated among the top six for competitiveness by the World Economic Forum and score highly in just about every international comparison on living standards, education and health care. The Nordics are outpacing the European average in economic growth and, remarkably for countries with such large public sectors, all have budget surpluses.

How do they do it?

…Economists say the Nordic countries have a solid footing today precisely because they went through a wrenching period of restructuring in the 1980s and 1990s that opened them to increased competition. Unprofitable manufacturing industries were winnowed out while research and development was increased to buttress high-technology industries. The service sector was built up, and government programs like pensions and unemployment benefits were reined in. Today, unemployment is manageable - although some economists question the figures. Productivity, a measure of how much each worker produces, continues to increase faster than the European average.
. . . . .
…But in an article released by a Brussels research group on Tuesday, Rasmussen warned against "bad karaoke," by which he meant other countries' trying halfheartedly to imitate the Nordic model. Countries must realize that policies alone are not the answer because the Nordic model is above all a spirit of cooperation between workers and employers.

Naturally, there are skeptics who attribute healthy-looking Nordic balance sheets to luck and good timing as much as good policy. Demand for the main commodities and products exported from Nordic countries is strong: oil from Norway, steel from Sweden and pulp and paper from Finland. The region also benefited handsomely from the technology boom, especially for companies like Nokia of Finland and Ericsson of Sweden.

Read the rest of the article to look for the cloud.

Harper Wins!

Canadian Election Success! Visit Nealenews for all the latest. Find Captain Ed's live-blog of the election here. For commentary, see:

Dust My Broom
Plato's Stepchild
small dead animals
The Last Amazon
The War Room
The Blogging Tories

Congratulations to my friends in Canada!

Gender Bias Among The Enlightened

From The Brussel's Journal: No Girls, Please, We're British Asians

But abortion of female foetuses has long been a part of life in Britain and The Observer has uncovered evidence that pregnant British Asian women, some in effect barred by the NHS after numerous abortions, are now coming to India for gender-defining ultrasounds and, if they are expecting girls, terminations.

Perhaps the European Darwinists need to pay a little more attention to the full import of his theories.

Venezuela Watch 1/24/06

From VCrisis: ExxonMobil's Exemplary Exit

Investors.com

The pullout of ExxonMobil Corp. from a project in Venezuela may have marked a turning point — not for the oil giant, but as a warning about the deteriorating situation in that country.
. . . . .
Exxon sold its stake in its only operating agreement in the country to its partner, Repsol-YPF, rather than be forced into a joint venture with the state on vague terms or — even worse — face expropriation.
. . . . .
For an oil company to dump its stake in scarce acreage is rare. Oil producers rank themselves by acreage and compete fiercely amid dwindling supply. Given the frontiers in which Exxon is used to operating — Russia, Angola, Chad, Yemen — its decision to leave is a warning that Venezuela is an even higher investment risk.
. . . . .
Foreign investment, in fact, is down in Venezuela (see chart) and, more ominously, domestic investment is down even more, particularly since 1998. As bankers at BBO Securities in Caracas put it: "Venezuela has simply become a place where businessmen are looking for deals, but are avoiding investments."
. . . . .
In the wake of those broken contracts, there's been a mudslide of property rights violations, as well as new price and capital controls. It's not hard to understand why. Property rights violations don't stop at breaking contracts. They repeat into further breaches of contact, and spread to violations of all kinds.
. . . . .
Meanwhile, Chavez himself announced that he'll expropriate 1.5 million more hectares of land from Venezuela's battered farmers in addition to the 1.34 million already taken from working farms in the states of Cojedes and Yaracuy.
. . . . .
It hasn't stopped there. Like a madman, Chavez vowed to confiscate the entire coffee, and now corn, industries if they don't continue to sell processed products below production costs.

(Hat tip to CaribPundit.)

Lou Minatti For Head Of State Department

Lou Minatti shows that he understands the German and French mind.

(Hat tip to Davids Medienkritik.)

Red Ensign Standard #35

Rootleweb raises Red Ensign Standard #35.

With respect to conservative bloggers, there would appear to be a growing fear that they are "pawns" of the Conservative Party. A similar fear is held regarding bloggers in the US, and unfortunately some believe that Canadian conservatives intellectually bow to their US counterparts, abandoning their reasoning for partisanship. This fear was evidenced in an extremely slanted story posted at Canada.com and its subsequent parroting by the Liberal Party. Free speech, it would seem, is not a Liberal value. Everyone forgot that Elections Canada decided, at the start of the election, that political blogging would not be in violation of the Elections Act and therefore it would not be hampered or stopped in anyway. In any case, both the Liberals and the NDP have blogging communities of their own. To suggest that one group is too partisan while ignoring the others is hypocrisy at its finest.

(Hat tip to Dust My Broom.)

Another Take On Just War

From Plato's Stepchild: Soldiers Who Please God

Update Re: CyberSmokeSignals Lawsuit

Two members of the Board of Directors of the Manitoba Metis Federation have petitioned the Court to be removed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against CyberSmokeSignals. Jeff Niederhoffer reprints an article from The Winnipeg Free Press which begins:

MANITOBA'S top Metis leader is being accused of using Manitoba Metis Federation funds to stifle criticism of his leadership.

MMF president David Chartrand is pursuing a lengthy and expensive lawsuit against a small band of dissidents who criticized him on an Internet site devoted to Metis issues.

(In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that Jeff Niederhoffer is the legal representation for the defendants in this lawsuit.)

Who are the Metis People?

Previous Posts on this subject:

• MMF Sues Website!
• Putting Out The Fire Of Cyber Smoke Signals
• So Sue Me 2

Art For Art's Sake?

Oh, those Europeans. They're so creative!

Youths reveal racy Bible calendar

Nuremberg pastor Bernd Grasser said: "It's just wonderful when teenagers commit themselves with their hair and their skin to the bible."

"There's a whole range of biblical scriptures simply bursting with eroticism," said Stefan Wiest, 32, who took the racy photographs.

Anne Rohmer, 21, wearing garters and stockings, posed on a doorstep as the prostitute Rahab.

"We wanted to represent the Bible in a different way and to interest young people," she told news agency Reuters.

"Anyway, it doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that you are forbidden to show yourself nude."

Bernd Grasser, pastor of the church in Nuremberg where the calendar is being sold, said he was supportive of the project.

It's Art! (nudge, nudge - wink, wink!) (Hat tip to WiseSerpents.)

Three More From CaribPundit

For your consideration:

1. The traitors amongst us have forgotten

   Why this retrospective? Well, the story making the wires is the mass purchase of non-traceable cell-phones by Mid-Eastern/Asian-looking individuals in cities around the U.S. This rush to purchase has come in the wake of the James Risen story of NSA listening in to phone calls, published by the Old Gray Whore.

2. Life in paradise

   Cuban government officials are openly worrying that the generation of disaffected youth that grew up with scarcity and hard times since the early 1990s will be the very catalyst that destroys Castro's legacy.

3. Chavez is a bigger threat than George Bush

   There are substantial allegations that Mr Chávez is a proxy for Cuba in exporting and sustaining leftist revolutionary movements. Promoting revolution or even the fear of revolution in a region scarred by two centuries of rebellion, insurrection, revolt and civil war, threatens to undermine the hard won advances in democracy made in Latin America since the early 1990s. Mr Chávez's provocative military adventurism on Bird Rock, which threatens the Exclusive Economic Zones of the Leeward Islands, also suggests an ambitious expansionist agenda. All this, taken with the militarisation of a large body of citizens into a new army reserve in an increasingly unstable civil situation in Venezuela, presents a dangerously potent cocktail for domestic and regional instability.
   
   

On Letting Your Woman Walk Around Without A Burka

or "They were asking for it."

Read Hanged if you do, stoned if you don't

An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.

CaribPundit celebrates another triumph for Islamic justice. If you want an insight into the thinking that makes this miscarriage of justice possible, read The Relationship Between Liberty And Morality.

Conservative?

Gene Edward Veith points us to Jeffrey Hart's Opinion Journal article entitled The Burke Habit:

In "The Conservative Mind" (1953), a founding document of the American conservative movement, Russell Kirk assembled an array of major thinkers beginning with Edmund Burke and made a major statement. He proved that conservative thought in America existed, and even that such thought was highly intelligent--a demonstration very much needed at the time.

Today we are in a very different and more complicated situation. Nevertheless, a synthesis is possible, based on what American conservatism has achieved and left unachieved since Kirk's volume. Any political position is only as important as the thought by which it is derived; the political philosopher presiding will be Burke, but a Burke interpreted for a new constitutional republic and for modern life. Here, then, is my assessment of the ideas held in balance in the American Conservative Mind today.

Mr. Veith follows the article with the posts below:

• Hart #1: Are Conservatives conservative?

  Jeffrey Hart, emeritus English professor at Dartmouth and a prominent conservative intellectual, has written an article that is rocking conservative circles. Entitled "The Burke Habit," published in the "Wall Street Journal" and drawn from his new book "The American Conservative Mind Today," he outlines the principles of conservative ideology as an intellectual and political tradition that goes way back into Western history. After that useful exercise, he then makes the case that, by that standard, today's conservatives are not really conservative.

• Hart #2: Against Utopias

  Jeffrey Hart points out that a critical theme in the conservative tradition is to be skeptical of any kind of utopias. . . . . . From Sir Edmund Burke's critique of the French Revolution to the 20th Century opposition to Communism, conservatives have recognized the Christian truth that human nature is flawed, and that attempts to impose utopian schemes that deny that truth are inevitably disastrous and usually tyrannical. Hart gives a great quote from one of my favorite Christian writers and thinkers, Blaise Pascal: "Man is neither angel nor brute, and the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the brute."

• Hart #3: What conservatives agree on

  Jeffrey Hart, in his essay on what conservatism is and isn't, cites some characteristics that even the neo-cons and Christian right whom he criticizes as being closet liberals can agree on: The importance of the nation (hence national defense, and, I would add, though he might consider it too lowerclass, patriotism). Constitutional government. Free enterprise economics. These principles, though, can be distorted by "utopianism."

• Hart #4: Conservative are supposed to love Beauty

  In his conservative catechism, Jeffrey Hart observes that conservatives have traditionally valued and cultivated beauty. Not any more.
  
  Hart emphasizes how free market economics, exaggerated in a utopian way to the source of all values, has reduced beauty to whatever sells. My point: Thus genuine culture is driven out by the pop culture, which becomes progressively coarse, sensationalistic, hedonistic, and fashion-driven.

  See also:
  1. Conservative Aesthetics no better than Left’s
  2. Beauty and the Church
  3. Why I’m a litte less Conservative than I Used to Be
  4. HOLLYWOOD, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS & CULTURE
• Hart #5: The Conservative Approach to Religion

  Continuing our seminar on the conservative tradition as outlined by Jeffrey Hart, he next stresses the importance of religion, but of a specific kind:

• Hart #6: Should conservatives make their peace with abortion?

  His argument is essentially that conservatives, since they don't believe in the possibility of a utopia, accept that society is going to have its flaws and its immorality. After a point, conservatives accept reality and go from there. Today's culture wants abortion. Though Hart admits that Roe v. Wade was a flawed decision, he says that overturning it now would be not conservative but "Jacobin" (a reference to the radical French revolutionaries).

• Hart #7: Is spreading democracy conservative?

  Here is his other hand grenade he tosses into the contemporary conservative movement: The war in Iraq and the goal of advancing democracy in the Middle East are not conservative. They are "Wilsonian." You remember President Woodrow Wilson, fighting World War I to "make the world safe for democracy; founding the League of Nations; all of those well-intentioned, idealistic foreign policy goals that blew up in everyone's face once Hitler and Stalin moved onto the world stage. Are American conservatives today repeating Wilson's mistakes?

• Hart #8: Are Republicans conservative?

  Now we see Jeffrey Hart's upper class Northern snobbishness click in, when he complains that the Republican party isn't conservative, either, what with all those uneducated, fundamentalist Southerners tracking up the parlor:

So, where do we go from here?

On History And Cleaning The Cat Box

I read this article by The Last Amazon concerning the Qibya "Massacre" in 1953 and then performed my regular "labor of love" - cleaning the cat box. It struck me that The Last Amazon had done exactly the same thing with the Toronto Star article referenced. If a widowed former ballerina, full-time breadwinner, mother-of-three and part-time blogger does a better job of providing the historical context for the event in question than a full-time, professional reporter, then is the work of that reporter of any greater value than what I removed from my cat box? This article is one more reason to read The Last Amazon on a regular basis.

When Liberals Attack

If you are as tired as I am of Senators Kennedy, Biden, Feinstein. et al and their adolescent attempts at clever disputation with Justice Alito, then perhaps you should try some of Canada's political discourse for some variety. From Monte Solberg: We have missiles in the air!

But of course we all knew this was coming. The Libs had to come up with something that was even more frightening than re-electing the Liberals and of course nothing is more frightening than the United States, except that thing where they buy 87% of our exports, and where we import their television programs, movies, music and all that other great stuff they make. And we vacation there too, but other than that they really are frightening.

What is Mr. Solberg referring to? He is referring to a series of post by Paul Wells concerning a series of Liberal Party attack ads. Evidently, one of these has been pulled from the Liberal Party website, but they are still available here. My favorites are "Harper and a secret comment" and "Harper and the Washington Times", which tie directly to Mr. Solberg's comments above. Mr. Wells and Mr. Solberg are particularly fond of the ad about Harper and military presence. Mr. Wells has some fun here. If the Liberals of Canada have trouble imagining evil and aggressive Canadian troops in Canadian cities, the rest of the world has trouble imagining them anywhere else. The Danes couldn't imagine Canadian troops at Hans Island.

Now where can I get a " Bible machine gun"? (Hat tip to Plato's Stepchild.)

Blogging Hiatus

I doubt that I shall be posting over the next few days, as I shall be delivering my mother-in-law to the sunny southwest. The first trick of the day will be to actually get her on the plane. Thank goodness for modern medical chemistry. This will be the first extended break from caring for her my wife and I will have had in over six years. We waited too long for this. I will be back next week after our return and recuperation. Please visit the many fine webistas listed in my link lists.

MMF Sues Website!

Updates to lawsuit written about here and here.

1. 1/2/06: DEFENCE LAWYER QUESTIONS EXCLUSION OF RON CHARTRAND AS PLAINTIFF IN MMF SUIT

2. 12/14/05: DEFENCE LAWYER CALLS ON MMF TO NAME CHARTRAND IN LAWSUIT

3. 11/30/05: MANITOBA MÉTIS FEDERATION SUES WEBSITE!

Who are the Métis People?
MANITOBA METIS NEWS (CyberSmokeSignals)

Flu Blogging

I don't feel very well. May I go back to bed now?

Hugo Chavez "Knows" Where The Problem Lies

Via Dust My Broom:

“the descendants of those who crucified Christ... have taken ownership of the riches of the world, a minority has taken ownership of the gold of the world, the silver, the minerals, water, the good lands, petrol, well, the riches, and they have concentrated the riches in a small number of hands.”

No wonder the Jews neocons want to "invade" Venezuela! They have all the money and power in the world to do it with.

He's Back!

The Dissident Frogman is back and not too soon. He has set goals, including:

f) To love Jesus, just because that - and a valid NRA membership - is a winner when one's little joy in life is to upset post-modern French deconstructivist drones and the mindless legions following Mr. 'M', Prophet by trade and Pedophile by taste.
Plus Jesus is really cool, and really big on free will - unlike a certain self-proclaimed prophet and revealed pedophile, and the deconstructed drones.

There may be some irreverence in that statement, but then again maybe not. If you are unacquainted with the very Dissident Frogman, one of the most creative minds on the web, pay him a visit. Vive Le Dissident! Vive Le Frogman! (My French really sucks.)

Russian Gas Pains Cause Europe To Double Over

From The Guardian: Russia turns off supplies to Ukraine in payment row, and EU feels the chill

Monday January 2, 2006

Russia followed through on its threat to stop natural gas supplies to Ukraine yesterday, in a fierce political standoff that is threatening to affect domestic fuel bills across Europe. Delivery from Siberian gas fields to Ukraine was cut off by reducing pressure in the pipeline network that also carries billions of cubic metres of gas chiefly to Germany, Italy and France.

The fallout was immediately felt in Germany and Hungary last night as gas suppliers warned of possible cutbacks.
. . . . .
Russian gas deliveries to Hungary via Ukraine fell by another 5-10% yesterday an big gas consumers were ordered to switch to oil where possible, Hungary's natural gas wholesaler Mol said. "Gas shipments are now down by more than 25%, a company spokesman, Sandor Kantor, told Reuters news agency.

The head of Germany's gas distributor warned that Russia's move to cut off natural gas to Ukraine could eventually crimp supplies for German industrial customers. Big business customers "are not affected at the moment, but down the line limited reductions in supply are not excluded," Ruhrgas's chief executive, Burckhard Bergmann, warned.
. . . . .
Gazprom provides about half the gas consumed in the EU and some 80% of that passes through pipelines that cross Ukraine.
. . . . .
The roots of the "gas war" lie in the widening divide between Moscow and Kiev since Ukraine signalled a dash towards EU and Nato integration after its "orange revolution" in 2004. Russia has important military bases in Ukraine and was previously pushing for its own economic union with the country.
. . . . .
Ukraine says it has enough alternative supplies to provide to homes for several months, as temperatures hover around 2C, but the steelmaking plants that comprise a huge chunk of its economy could grind to a halt if Russia keeps the tap turned off for long.

A key issue for Ukraine will be the delivery of gas from Turkmenistan, which has been the country's single-largest supplier. Yesterday the Turkmen president, Saparmurat Niyazov, said 40bn cubic meters would be delivered to Ukraine this year - about the same amount as last year - which comes via pipelines crossing Russia. However, Gazprom this year is significantly increasing its own purchases of Turkmen gas, which some analysts suggested could bring a reduction in supplies to Ukraine.

Until Saturday, Gazprom supplied a third of Ukraine's supply. It bought up excess gas from Turkemistan for Russian consumption last week, in a move interpreted by some analysts as an effort to prevent its delivery to Ukraine.
. . . . .
Alexander Lebedev, a Russian state duma deputy, said he feared Russia's tough stance would remind the world of Soviet posturing. "We used to be called Upper Volta with rockets," he said. "Now it's Upper Volta with gas.

For more background information, see Russians Can't Pass Gas?.

Leaving Islam In Russia

2 million ethnic Muslims adopted baptism in Russia

Moscow, November 1, Interfax - The number of ethnic Muslims in Russia who adopted Christianity is 2 million, while the number of the Orthodox who have been converted to Islam is only 2,5 thousand, stated Roman Silantyev, executive secretary of the Inter-religious Council in Russia.

‘Christianization happens not so much as a result of some purposeful missionary activity (in which only Protestants are engaged) as under the influence of Russian culture which has express Christian roots’, Silantyev said in a interview published this week by the Itogi weekly.

According Silantyev, the converts are predominantly Muslims by birth, while ‘those who really confess Islamic values and attend mosque on a regular basis rarely change their faith’.

‘The assimilation of ethnic and religious minorities is an inevitable process in any society. In Russia it is accelerated due to extremist activities’, the Islamic researcher believes.

Leaving Islam
(Hat tip to sda.)