News

1329746228 65 News

There was one inexcusable omission in U.S. President Barack Obama’s Jan. 24 State of the Union address. The speech lacked any mention or even hint of Central America and the growing, multidimensional threat to U.S. national security. Sadly, GOP presidential debaters also have not placed the United States’ backyard within the framework of present and potential dangers. Virtually nothing has been said about the buildup of a dangerous new axis.

Celebrating Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s creeping dictatorship last month was Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the man who earlier pledged to destroy Israel. Together with bosom friends Hugo Chávez and Cuba’s Castro brothers, he celebrated the hoped-for downfall of the U.S. and capitalism. Naturally, one has to give credit to the U.S. president and Navy for their comprehensive challenge to Iranian ambitions in the Persian Gulf. But if Iran eventually succeeds in acquiring weapons of mass destruction, has anyone considered how our hemispheric foes will be empowered?

Also ignored by the president and the dysfunctional U.S. Congress is the brewing border conflict between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and the continuous territorial ambitions of Nicaragua. Surely many analysts have neglected the creeping coup orchestrated by Sandinista leader Ortega. Also not well analyzed in the U.S. press is the 2011 Sandinista intervention on Isla Calero on the San Juan River, and the disputes raging over a road Costa Rica is building by the river. Although we have not yet witnessed such openly aggressive prospects towards Costa Rica as the earlier Sandinista support of the El Salvador guerillas in the 1980s, the potential is there. 

Tico author and farmer Juan Rafael Muñoz provides a comprehensive historical, geographical and environmental analysis of Costa Rica and Nicaragua in his 2003 book, “Liberia, My Tribute to Its Settlers, to My People. Courtesy of Juan Rafael Muñoz

To really understand Nicaraguan-Costa Rican tensions, readers should pick up Juan Muñoz Fonseca’s 2003 book, “Liberia, My Tribute to Its Settlers, to My People,” available in Spanish and English. 

Although Muñoz’s focus is the region in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, he provides much enlightenment on the history of the two nations. Notably, unlike most Latin American and North American scholars, he writes within the framework of the great French historian Fernand Braudel, showing how environmental factors, the complexity of geography, weather conditions, ethnic groups, flora, fauna, agriculture and animal husbandry helped to shape the history of this conflicted, strategically shaped region and northwestern frontier. He takes readers there with satellite pictures, maps, drawings, historical documents, agricultural statistics and eyewitness accounts of early settlers.

To be sure, Costa Ricans have not been innocent bystanders in the border disputes, and Muñoz’s reporting is objective. His book also predates the recent Isla Calero intervention and continuous friction and debate surrounding the road. Yet the agricultural expert turned historian has not written a simple, diplomatic history, but a major study.

Careful reading suggests that two key geographic and environmental factors have had an impact on present tensions. One of these, as Muñoz explains, is the past importance of the San Juan River, previously known as the Nicaragua Transit Route (NTR). So named by industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt in the 19th century, the NTR sought to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans between the strategically important harbors of San Juan del Norte and San Juan del Sur (part of the trip had to be made by land). The route was primarily used for agricultural exports to Europe, especially coffee, and eliminated long shipping to Europe around the Horn of Africa. Decades thereafter, in 1914, Nicaragua solicited and received U.S. support for a treaty giving it the right for 99 years to build a canal. Notice: The treaty will expire in 2013. 

Ortega’s aggression may have also been inspired by the 2008 Russian intervention in Georgia, demonstrating that borders can be changed by the use of force. Wasn’t Ortega’s country, together with Venezuela, one of the few that supported that intervention? 

As Muñoz shows, another key factor contributing to the continued border belligerence is clearly the environmental setting of his province, particularly the immense savannah extending to the Pacific Ocean, and leading north to Nicaragua and south to the Gulf of Nicoya. Blessed with beautiful beaches and four colossal volcanoes, the Guanacaste province, where thousands of U.S. expats live, is not only attractive to tourists, but also is of immense agricultural value. 

The location of the provincial capital, Liberia, is important as Guanacaste’s communications hub, a factor recognized by Costa Rican and Nicaraguan officials, as Muñoz shows, since the middle of the 19th century. 

Within environmental factors, Muñoz covers some important history, demonstrating that Costa Rica – and belatedly the U.S. – supported the Sandinistas in 1979. Moreover, as he explains, it was not just the U.S.’s earlier support of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, but Soviet support of El Salvador guerillas, Cuban proxies and the Sandinistas that escalated the Cold War. In the late ’80s, U.S. support for the Contra War eventually brought an unanticipated result: peaceful change – at least until Ortega’s post-communist manipulations. As co-editor and author of the book “Conflict in Nicaragua,” we consider Muñoz’s coverage of the Sandinista wars one of the best short histories available. 

Other fascinating history not objectively available elsewhere is the attempted conquest of Central America by U.S. Col. William Walker, who captured Nicaragua but ultimately failed in his attempt to extend slavery to Central America. Had the U.S. South won the Civil War, the history of this region might have been quite different.

 There is not enough space to discuss all the aspects of Muñoz’s book. The English version could be better edited, and the writing is alternately eloquent and overloaded with detail. It needs an index. But the book is an essential treasure trove for policymakers, historians, students and expats. 

Using a comparative perspective, for example, the Guanacaste province, incorporated into Costa Rica in the 19th century, has been disputed much as the Russians and Georgians have disputed South Ossetia and Abkhazia, or the Israelis and Palestinians have disputed the West Bank, or the Armenians and Azerbaijanis have battled over Nagorny-Karabach. 

Thus, it underscores that another world hot spot has the potential to get worse. In upcoming months, after the petty wrangling of the electoral process, U.S. policymakers must pay more attention to this strategic backyard in general, and in particular new frictions regarding the singular democracy of Costa Rica, a country with no military of its own, in the heart of the Central American isthmus.

Jiri and Leni Valenta are co-founders of the Institute of Post-Communist Studies. See more at jvlv.net.

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The Source: THE PERFECT MIX

1329693428 85 The Source: THE PERFECT MIX

Take a group of creative people, great team spirit and classic designs, then bring them all together in Algonquin Park for several days, and what do you get? The impressive, just launched "Rediscover Your Roots" campaign. By ALEXANDRA GUNDY

  Rachelle Goulding and Peter Vooys in campaign shot at Bonita in Algonquin Park

Dipping his paddle into the glassy surface of South Tea Lake, Peter Vooys propels the red cedar-strip canoe through the water, making his way from Camp Tamakwa to Bonita, in Ontario’s Algonquin Park. Scanning the lake for loons, he adroitly navigates through the cool, quiet July morning.

Arriving at his destination just after dawn, Peter steers his canoe toward the site chosen for an important Roots photo shoot. The average model doesn’t normally show up for assignment alone in a canoe, but this isn’t your standard photo shoot, and Peter isn’t your typical model.

The Tamakwa staff member has left camp behind for a few days to model for the Roots early fall campaign, his third for the company. For Peter, the shoot is conveniently located at Bonita, next to South Tea Lake, a 20-minute paddle away. 

Acquired by Roots in 1996, the Bonita guest lodge site was the obvious choice as the visual backdrop for the Rediscover Your Roots campaign.

“Algonquin Park is the birthplace of Roots, so Bonita was a natural fit for this heritage-inspired campaign,” says Creative Director Stephanie Holden. “The property also has a very authentic and rustic feel that allows our shoot to have a relaxed cottage atmosphere. It’s a  beautiful setting that is very inspiring for a natural, outdoor lifestyle.”

Stephanie was the creative force behind the Rediscover Your Roots project, designed to encourage customers to look back into their closets and remember their favourite Roots pieces, with a focus on leather footwear and classic sweats.

“The campaign was really driven by the company’s heritage and from the stories that people share with me about their favourite pieces whenever I mention that I work at Roots,” says Stephanie.

When Roots opened its first store in 1973 in Toronto, its first product was the negative heel shoe. Eight years later, the now classic Roots sweatshirts debuted.

Stephanie usually conceptualizes a campaign three to six months before it’s shot. When conceiving a theme, major factors include the product range, the season and how the designers describe the clothing and their motivation behind creating each piece. Stephanie then presents a mood board, location proposal, and her sketches to Roots Co-Founders Don Green and Michael Budman, Design Director Diane Bald and Chief Operating Officer Jarar Kazmi. Much work goes into visualizing the campaign, and it’s important that everyone is on the same page ahead of the photo shoot.

“We really understand each other,” says hair and makeup artist Anna Barseghian, who has worked with Roots on several campaigns over the past two years. “When you put five creative people in a room and they all have the same vision… well, that’s pretty amazing. It doesn’t happen often in this business.”

The shoot ran for four days in early July, and each day Anna and model Rachelle Goulding awoke at 5 a.m. for hair and makeup, while other members of the team took advantage of the beautiful surroundings by going for early morning kayak outings. However, as soon as the sun came up, it was strictly business.

Algonquin Park resident, photographer, and longtime friend of Roots Don Stanfield helped scout Bonita for the best shooting locations. He walked through the property with Diane, and again with Rylan Perry, who photographed the campaign, to show them where to get the best lighting during the ten-hour shoots. Because changing weather is often a big challenge when photographing outdoors, Don, who grew up in Algonquin Park, always had backup locations in mind. While showing the team the lay of the land, he entertained everyone with stories about the history of the Park. 

“Don made the shoot,” says Peter. “Especially for those who had never been to Bonita before. He’s a great storyteller and really is the resident Algonquin expert.”

An extended photo shoot can be exhausting, and Anna credits the upbeat attitude and positive energy of a number of the shoot’s participants in keeping the team motivated.

“It was a hot day, and there were a lot of mosquitoes in the woods,” she says. “It’s not like being in a studio shoot. People fade when they are working outside, and positive energy is infectious. It motivates the models, and keeps everyone’s spirits up.”

Every night the team dined together in the Bonita rec hall and discussed plans for the next day’s shoot. Following dinner, they would gather around a campfire where conversation often turned more personal. Before long the Bonita crew was talking to each other candidly about themselves, their hopes and their dreams.

Seeing her concept come to life is the part of the process that Stephanie enjoys the most. Her favourite series of pictures involved Peter and Rachelle inside a canvas tent.

Videographer Michael Schmidt was on location to film the entire shoot, including the putting up of the tent. Set to music by Canadian singer/songwriter Jeen O’Brien, his video is part of the campaign’s online presence, and can be seen on the Roots YouTube channel.

After the shoot wrapped, Stephanie and her team selected their favourite photos, produced full size mock-ups of the campaign and presented them to Don, Michael, and Jarar. The selected shots are then used online, in print ads and on in-store posters.

In order to carry the Algonquin Park experience into stores the visual merchandising team got creative and brought in props to give the retail environment a more rustic feel. These include cottage staples like paddles, lanterns, Pendleton blankets, and barn wood.

“The campaign is about going back to the beginning of Roots, and drawing from its past,” says Diane. “The company started because Don and Michael love to create, and when they shaped the company they were inspired by their experiences at camp and in the wilderness.”

Algonquin Park is at the heart of Roots, and it only made sense to go back there to create a campaign that encourages people to rediscover their roots, as Roots rediscovers its own.

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NIKE, Inc. : Converse launches collaboration with Masafumi Watanabe

1329561429 66 NIKE, Inc. : Converse launches collaboration with Masafumi Watanabe

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (January 25, 2012) – Today, Converse Inc. launches the Masafumi Watanabe for Converse Jack Purcell Johnny shoe. Founder of the influential label Bedwin and the Heartbreakers, Watanabe is one of Japan’s most influential designers and an innovator of a contemporary, tailored, street-wear aesthetic. His fresh take on classic American apparel, makes his collaboration using the iconic Jack Purcell Johnny shoe a natural fit.

“The Jack Purcell shoe has the essence of refinement and rebelliousness at the same time. Similarly, Watanabe is known for sophisticated classics with a street-smart, contemporary twist. These shoes are a great showcase of the sensibilities both labels share, says Ian Ginoza, Converse Director of First String and Special Projects. 

 The Jack Purcell debuted over 75 years ago and today has confirmed its lasting place in American style. Watanabe’s version of the Jack Purcell Johnny shoe takes inspiration from its history and classic roots, yet with a rugged touch designed for modern streets. Reimagining the iconic Jack Purcell Johnny as an outdoors-inspired, water-resistant shoe, Watanabe merges its classic styling with rugged detailing commonly found on duck boots. The shoe features an orange-brown leather collar and vulcanized, monochromatic, dark-brown rubber uppers with the iconic Jack Purcell Johnny detailing embossed on the side. The familiar Jack Purcell toe-smile receives a color-corresponding accent in dark-brown rubber and a semi-transparent, gum-rubber sole rounds out the shoe’s simple, yet handsome elements. The shoe comes with a standard-lace or a boot-lace option and features the Masafumi Watanabe label on the shoe’s foot bed.  

 ”It's a huge honor for me to work with Converse. I grew up wearing Converse Jack Purcell shoes and still wear them whether I am at my office or walking the streets of Tokyo. I see the Jack Purcell shoe as an icon of American style and pop-culture and wanted to blend their simple elegance with a roughness fit for an urban lifestyle,” says Masafumi Watanabe.

Converse First String is a limited-edition collection that celebrates craftsmanship, authenticity and innovation at the highest level and includes select collaborations with inspiring creatives from a wide array of disciplines and backgrounds. Only 450 pairs of the Masafumi Watanabe for Converse Jack Purcell Johnny shoe will be available globally beginning on February 4, 2012 at Converse First String Retailers. All shoes will retail for a MSRP of $140 USD and will be available in unisex sizing 8 – 13.

About Converse 

Converse Inc., based in N. Andover, Massachusetts, is a wholly owned subsidiary of NIKE, Inc. Established in 1908, the Converse brand has built a reputation as “America’s Original Sports Company”

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Okotoks population continues to climb

1329307029 24 Okotoks population continues to climbCensus: Community among fastest growing in Canada

Federal census results show Okotoks’ population continued to climb with in of the fastest growth rates in Canada in the last five years.

The town’s population has more than doubled in the last decade reaching exceeding the 24,000 mark as families set down roots in Okotoks.

They’ve only been living in Okotoks for less than a year, but it has been a blessing.

When moving to Alberta from the Maritimes in October, there was only one place Lorie Edwards wanted her family to call home and it was Okotoks. It’s a decision she said has been a blessing.

“The people are friendly, they’re welcoming,” she said. “It’s an extremely positive community.”

Edwards’ family first moved to Alberta from Ontario in 2005 and settled in Airdrie, before moving to Moncton, New Brunswick. When her husband’s work brought the family back to Alberta she wanted to live in Okotoks.

“It was my head and my heart that told me to come to Okotoks,” he said.

Edwards said the town has a strong sense of community. It also has everything people need and is also close enough to Calgary for when you have to go to the city, she said.

She would be willing support growing beyond the 30,000 population cap, but she doesn’t want to see large, uncontrolled growth levels. Having lived in a have-not province, she believes Okotoks is in a much better position to be able to manage its growth pressures.

“As long as it is discussed and planned for,” she said.

The decision to move to Okotoks has been made by thousands of others and results from the 2011 national census show Okotoks continues to be one of Canada’s fastest growing communities. Statistics Canada released the first round of results from the 2011 census on Feb. 8, which included population and dwelling counts across the country.

The Town’s population has doubled over the past 10 years. The results show Okotoks’ population rose to 24,511 last year, up from 17,150 in 2006 for a 42.9 per cent increase. It was the 10th fastest growth rate for Canadian municipalities and the town was one of five from Alberta in the top 10.

Okotoks mayor Bill Robertson said the census results show that Okotoks is a good place to call home.

“People want to come here because we’re creating a desirable community to live in,” he said. “We have all kinds of amenities and people value those and want to come in and experience them.”

The census results show Okotoks continuing to edge closer to its water license capacity. The Town has enough water licenses for a population of 27,000 people. The Town has worked to expand its water supply by purchasing water licenses, including buying three last year.

Town council is expected to make a decision later this year about whether it will keep the population cap or allow continued growth, as well as how it will supply water for additional development into the future.

The Town’s sky-high growth rate is already coming back down to earth.

Much of the growth in the last five years occurred in 2006 and 2007, slowing afterwards. Housing starts peaked in 2006 with 793 single-family homes and duplexes and 278 multi-family units. It declined to 521 single-family homes and duplexes and 342 multi-family units in 2007 and dropped to 247 single-family homes and duplexes and 16 multi-family units in 2008.

He said the slower growth rate after 2008 has given the Town time to catch up on Robertson needs. He said new facilities such as the indoor field house and Heritage Heights Arena in the MD of Foothills will help to address needs for recreational facilities in the town and surrounding area.

“It does give us a little bit of breathing room,” he said.

Shane Olson said the growing population is good new for Okotoks’ business community. The increase in the regional population is also good for the town because it makes up a large part of the Town’s regional trading area, he said.

“It’s good for businesses, having more people around certainly helps the regional trading area and supports our local economy and the businesses we have in town,” he said.

He said a growing population also helps the Town attract more funding from grant programs that are based on the number of people living in a community.

The entire foothills area continued to grow as more than 60,000 people now call the region home. Every municipality in the foothills region saw their populations rise with more modest growth in the MD of Foothills and Turner Valley, while Black Diamond saw a higher growth rate of 24.9 per cent.

Additional census results will be released over the course of the year, with statistics on the age and number of men and women in Canada scheduled to be released in May.

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Long-Lost Identities Of Slaves Uncovered In Old Virginia Papers

1329247029 53 Long Lost Identities Of Slaves Uncovered In Old Virginia Papers

A historical society in Virginia, where slavery began in the American colonies in 1619, has discovered the identities of 3,200 slaves from unpublished private documents, providing new information for today’s descendants in a first-of-its-kind online database, society officials say.

Many of the slaves had been forgotten to the world until the Virginia Historical Society received a $100,000 grant to pore over some of its 8 million unpublished manuscripts — letters, diaries, ledgers, books and farm documents from Virginians dating to the 1600s — and began discovering the long-lost identities of the slaves, said society president and CEO Paul Levengood.

The private, nonprofit historical society, the fourth-oldest in the nation, is assembling a growing roster of slaves’ names and other information, such as the slaves’ occupations, locations and plantation owners’ names, said Levengood.

The free, public website also provides a high-resolution copy of the antique documents that identify the slave.

The database, which went online last September with 1,500 names, sets itself apart from the few other existing slave databases — which limit themselves to specific plantations or to ship manifests that list the captives by their native African names, society officials said.

The “Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names” website is the first online resource listing slaves’ names across all of slaveholding Virginia, the nation’s oldest state which had the largest enslaved population, numbering a half million people, at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, society officials said.

“Most slaves were by their owners’ design and eventually by law forbidden to learn how to read and write, so they didn’t leave us material that so many figures in the past did,” Levengood said. “That’s when you have to be creative.”

So using a $100,000 corporate grant from Dominion, one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, society researchers began examining some of its 8 million manuscripts that Virginia residents have been giving to the historical society since its founding in 1831.

Those Virginia families found the old, handwritten papers in attics, basements or desk drawers, Levengood said. The society stores the documents in an archive spanning thousands of square feet, he said.

The antique papers turned out to mention slaves.

“Often they appeared in the records of the owners who owned slaves as human property, which to us sounds so obscene and alien,” said Levengood, who’s also a historian. “But these people were writing down their inventory as if you would for insurance purposes. That’s the kind of things that owners did with slaves. This was the most valuable property they owned, and they wanted to make sure it was recorded.

“Often there was a human connection, and they grew up with these people, and they recorded their birth dates and deaths. It’s an incredibly complicated and tragic institution that we’re just beginning to understand the dimensions of,” Levengood said.

Documents citing slaves go back to the 1690s: “That’s when slavery starts to grow fast in Virginia and other English colonies,” Levengood said.

“Sometimes it’s a real detective work. You have to read between the lines: Oh, they mention Amy in a letter, and then you have to read another letter in the collection to realize that Amy is a slave and not a family member,” Levengood said.

The society Saturday held the first of four community workshops on how to use the online database at the organization’s headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. While the online website is intuitive on how to use, the workshops are being held for users who need more guidance, Levengood said.

Some 80 people came to Saturday’s workshop, including Gale Carter, a high school history teacher who flew in from East Chicago, Indiana for the event.

Carter said the original documents digitized on the site will help her uncover more of her own family’s history in Virginia, as well as help her students learn about the era.

“I’m going to use this not only personally, but professionally,” she said. “This is terrific. It’s a model and I hope the rest of the states catch up real quickly.”

Amateur genealogist Crasty Johnson of Richmond said she hopes the sites will help her trace her roots back to the 1800s.

“I need to know my history,” she said, adding the site may help her prove or disprove many of the things she’s heard about her family’s past. “I wanted to really know. I wanted to be able to see and connect the dots.”

When the United States banned the importation of slaves after 1807, Virginia became the largest provider in the nation’s internal slave trade, Levengood said. Slavery was eventually abolished at the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865.

That means many American families with slave ancestors could have roots in Virginia, Levengood said.

“Slavery in Virginia is not just a Virginia story. It reaches across all of the slave South,” Levengood said. “So you may not know you have Virginia ancestors, but you could.”

The database features a public message board, filled with notes posted by users searching for ancestors who may have been slaves. The advanced search fields include the slave’s first name or last name; gender; occupation; owner’s last name; date range; and record type.

One user named “Treebranch02″ wrote last September: “Well, I think I found the slave owner that owned my great, great, great grandfather but that is as far as I got. Nothing on my great grandfather and great grandmother who lived in Manquin, VA. This was good for me, however. Got me excited. Wonderful site.”

Elsewhere in the database is a stark description of the sale of slaves and goods in a February 11, 1858, typed letter from slaveholder William Daniel Cabell of “Benvenue” in Nelson County, Virginia, to his wife, Elizabeth Nicholas Cabell.

“The corn we sold yesterday brought 3.15$ per barrel. We sold all the negros 43 in number at astonishingly large prices — the whole amounting to $32016. Nearly every one of the negros were satisfied as they were bought by people in the country mostly, going ahead of the prices given by the traders,” Cabell wrote his wife.

The letter continued: “Jane and three children brought $2795. and Mimy and three children $2505. My father gave $25. to Mr. Agee and then allowed Mr. Turner to take Mimy as he owned her husband. Old Mr. S. Turner bought Jane and children. Jane’s husband exclaimed just as she was knocked out to his master “Glory to God on high, peace and good will to men on earth” and it seemed to pop from his very soul. Betsy brought $1400. and was bought for Miss Perking of Buckingham.”

Robert Payne, who attended Saturday’s workshop, said he’s been researching his family for the past 15 years, but finding information about his ancestors wasn’t easy. He’s hoping his 12 grandchildren can benefit from his work.

“Researching black folk is difficult, so anytime you can find a new resource it’s always good to investigate,” he said. “It’s a database for the ones that are coming up. They’ll be able to take it and grow from that.”

By Michael Martinez and Athena Jones, CNN, February 5, 2012.

cnn.com/2012/02/05/health/ships-outbreak/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

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Know your onions: They’re the first veg of the year to sow, and the earlier you get your onions going the better the harvest will be

1329041836 95 Know your onions: Theyre the first veg of the year to sow, and the earlier you get your onions going the better the harvest will be

By Monty Don

Last updated at 10:30 PM on 20th January 2012

My vegetable-growing year begins with a sowing of onions, and now is the ideal time to start onions and shallots growing to guarantee a good harvest in the summer.

In fact, you can grow onions equally well either from seed or from ‘sets’, which are small bulbs. Onion sets will grow to create one larger bulb, whereas shallot sets will divide and create a cluster of small bulbs for harvesting as a clump.

Onions need a long growing period if they are to mature into decent-sized bulbs and once the days get shorter again they are increasingly inclined to go to seed, so it’s a good idea to get them going early in the year.

Monty says: ‘Although onions are true bulbs, unlike a daffodil or tulip they should not be planted deep underground but just pressed into the soil so only the bottom half is buried’

But if your garden is anything like mine at the moment, the ground will be sodden and weeks away from being ready for sowing or planting anything.

However, seeds can be sown in plugs or pots in a greenhouse or windowsill, and sets can be planted into plugs, ready to plant out when the ground is workable.

Although raising onions from sets is easier than growing them from seed, the choice of varieties is much more limited, so if you are after a special type, you will almost certainly have to grow them from seed.

There is also some evidence that onions grown from seed store better. I find that Turbo, Sturon and Red Baron grow and store well as sets – grow any other varieties from seed.

BULBS YOU CAN BANK ON

These are all varieties that I have grown many times and found to be excellent

REDBARON: Very reliable and tasty red onion that matures early, so is moreresistant to fungal problems than some other varieties.

TURBO: Another tried and tested variety producing medium-sized, golden bulbs. It is heat-treated to help prevent bolting.

RED SUN: Handsome deep red-coloured shallot that produces 5 or 6 good-sized bulbs from each set.

LONGOR: French shallot with long, slim body and pale pink flesh. Very sweet and tasty.

Although onions are true bulbs, unlike adaffodil or tulip they should not be planted deep underground but just pressed into the soil so only the bottom half is buried. I find that a hole made by my finger is enough to anchor them to the soil, although, inevitably, you will have to reposition a few until they grow roots thatfix them firmly because birds love to tug at them, especially as the new shoots appear.

It’s a good idea to make sure the sets are in a grid because then you can hoe in both directions without clipping a bulb in passing. Onions like plenty of moisture while the foliage is growing, which is why it’s important to weed them regularly so that competition for water is reduced – let the weeds in your onions get bad in May and June and they will never really recover.

Onions do best in good but lightish soil. If the ground has too much manure or compost you will have lots of lush leaves but the onions will be on the small side and more prone to fungal problems.

For the past few years, I have been increasingly plagued with onion white rot, affecting all my edible alliums. It is caused by a fungus called Sclerotium cepivorum. This causes the roots to shrivel and die so the whole plant stops growing and slowly rots.

A white fungus is often visible on the roots and the base of the bulb, but the true harm is caused by the sclerotia – which are tiny black dots – and can remain viable in the soil and reinfect any member of the allium family for at least seven years.

So I have now sadly designated my long-standing vegetable garden an alliumfree zone, although the new veg plot I made last year seems to be unaffected and this is where my seed and sets will eventually be planted out.

 

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Robert Wistrich: Post-Mubarak Egypt: The dark side of Islamic utopia – Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs

1328842628 62 Robert Wistrich: Post Mubarak Egypt: The dark side of Islamic utopia   Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs

The following article was first published in the ‘Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs’ (January 2012 edition).

The Muslim Brotherhood [Ikhwan al-Muslimim], along with the more radical Salafi Islamists, has turned out to be the overwhelming victor in the first two rounds of the democratic elections currently taking place in post-Mubarak Egypt. Though they did not initiate the wider popular movement toward democracy, the Islamist forces in Egypt, as in Tunisia and Libya, have been the chief beneficiaries of the collapse of longstanding authoritarian and repressive regimes in North Africa.

In Egypt, the two largest Islamist parties won about 75 percent of the votes in the second round of legislative elections, held in mid-December 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood (running under the euphemistic name “Freedom and Justice Party”) was said to have gained 49 percent of the votes and the newly-formed Salafist Islamic party called Al-Nour received a stunning 28 percent of the ballots cast. In the first round a month earlier, the two movements had together obtained 69 percent of the votes.1 No one has benefitted more than the Muslim Brotherhood, the only well-organized and structured force in the country, from the political vacuum created by years of governmental repression.

The success of Al-Nour, which had existed for barely nine months, was, however, the biggest surprise. Its call for the strict application of Sharia law in Egypt evidently did not deter voters. These results, along with the clear victory of the Islamist Ennahda (al-Nahda) party in Tunisia’s first free elections, seem to suggest that the main outcome thus far of the “Arab Spring” has been an accelerated islamization of the Middle East.2 Moreover, Libya’s new interim leader, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, immediately promised to revoke Colonel Qadhafi’s ban on polygamy since that law is considered “contrary to Sharia.” Other Islamists such as Abdul Hakim Belhadi (a suspect in the Madrid terrorist bombing of 2004) and Sheikh Ali Salibi—a close associate of Yusuf Qaradawi, the Egyptian-born spiritual head of the global Muslim Brotherhood — are also influential figures in the present Libyan leadership.3 Yet another revealing representative of the Islamist wave is Tunisia’s new leader, Rached Ghannouchi, having been influenced by the writings of Muslim Brotherhood theorists like the martyred Egyptian thinker Sayyed Qutb.4 Unfortunately, the idea, so popular among some leading Western journalists (including Tom Friedman and Nicholas Kristof), that such Islamist leaders have suddenly become converts to liberal democracy does not stand up to serious scrutiny. This is especially true of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the patience and prudence of which should not be naively mistaken for “moderation.”5

The Ikhwan is an organization over eighty years old with a long history of victimization, having been repressed first under the Egyptian monarchy (its founder Hassan al-Banna was murdered in 1948 by King Farouk’s police), and then – with even greater severity -  under Gamal Abd al-Nasir, Anwar al-Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak. The Brothers learned from this harsh school the need for caution, yet they have never deviated from Hassan al-Banna’s central axiom: “Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law; jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”6

Their radical vision remains focused on the comprehensive attainment of a fully Islamic society and way of life. Only their methodology has become more gradualist, which has inevitably led over the years to more revolutionary defections from the movement, such as the group of Islamic radicals who assassinated President Sadat thirty years ago. One of those conspirators was the Egyptian jihadist Ayman al-Zawahiri, currently head of al-Qaeda. The Brotherhood has in reality always been radical, anti-Western, viscerally hostile to Israel, and openly antisemitic—points invariably downplayed in recent Western commentary on the “Arab Spring.” Anti-Semitism and conspiracy-mongering have, of course, been part of Egypt’s political discourse ever since the military coup that brought Nasir to power almost sixty years ago.7 Religious intolerance toward the 8 million Christian Copts in Egypt is also not new, though it has escalated in recent years and Copts remain a favorite target of the Islamists. But the anti- Jewish conspiracy theories of the Brotherhood and Egyptian preachers are in a class of their own. In an interview on ‘al-Rahma TV’ (26 October 2011), the virulently anti-Semitic cleric Amin al-Ansari even claimed that Jews manipulate women in order to maintain their control of the world, citing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and adding: “… when Zionism and Judaism benefit, it means the decline not only of Muslim women, but of humanity as a whole.”8

Such Muslim concern for women evidently did not extend to the chief correspondent for CBS News, the non-Jewish American reporter Lara Logan. In February 2011, she was beaten and raped in broad daylight by a frenzied throng of Egyptian men in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, who were screaming “Jew! Jew!” even as they assaulted her.9 This shocking event (studiously ignored by the ‘New York Times’ print edition) was virtually contemporaneous with the return of Yusuf al-Qaradawi (the most celebrated Muslim Brotherhood cleric in the world) to Egypt after fifty years in exile.

The still vigorous 84-year-old, often misleadingly portrayed in the West as a “moderate,” came to Tahrir Square on February18, 2011 to lead a huge crowd (some reports say more than a million-strong) in Friday prayers and to preach a rousing sermon.10 On the one hand, he called for pluralistic democracy in Egypt, while at the same time offering an impassioned “message to our brothers in Palestine,” in support of their approaching liberation. “I have hope,” he proclaimed, “that Almighty Allah, as I have been pleased with the victory in Egypt, that he will also please me with the conquest of the al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem].”11 Many in his audience of over a million Egyptians would have been aware that Qaradawi had on several occasions defended suicide bombing attacks against ordinary Israeli civilians (including women and children); that he favored a complete boycott of all Israeli as well as American products; and that a Jewish state within any borders was wholly immoral and illegitimate in his eyes.12 Qaradawi, like most Muslim Brotherhood preachers, is indeed not just an impassioned Israel-hater but a fullyfledged anti-Semite.

In a sermon during Israel’s Cast Lead Operation in Gaza (9 January 2009), broadcast to millions on ‘al-Jazeera’ TV, he referred to the Jews as “treacherous aggressors,” a “profligate, cunning, arrogant band of people.” He fervently prayed to Allah to annihilate these oppressive, Jewish Zionist criminals. Not a single Jew, he declared, should be spared by the Almighty. “O Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.”13 A few weeks later, in a statement on ‘al-Jazeera’ TV (28 January  2009), the leading Sunni Muslim cleric in the world added the following gloss on Hitler and the Holocaust:Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the Jews people who would punish them for their corruption… The last punishment was carried out by [Adolf] Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them—even though they exaggerated this issue—he managed to put them in their place. This was divine punishment for them… Allah willing, the next time will be at the hands of the believers.14If this is not genocidal anti-Semitic incitement, then the term has little meaning. The current supreme leader of the Brotherhood, Mohamed Budi, undoubtedly shares such views on Israel, Zionism, and the Jews. His advice in 2010 to the Mujahideen in Gaza to continue to “raise the banner of jihad against the Jews, [our] first and foremost enemies” was essentially echoing an undeviating gospel of hatred. Like Sheikh Qaradawi, the current leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood clearly believe that loathing of Jews and the destruction of Israel is mandated by God himself. Every Jew in the world is thereby designated an enemy within this ideology. Nor is it an accident that Qaradawi, like other Egyptian clerics, should quote an anti-Jewish saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in a notorious hadith on the preconditions for the Day of Judgment. In his commentary, Qaradawi emphasized that the coming apocalyptic battle will not be “between Arabs and Zionists, or between Jews and Palestinians, or between Jews or anybody else.” His conclusion could not be more explicit. “ This battle will occur between the collective body of Muslims and the collective body of Jews, that is all Muslims and all Jews.”15

Such Muslim fundamentalist doctrines on Israel and the Jews are intimately connected to an obsession with purging Muslim countries of all and any Western influences—seen as part of a larger Jewish-Zionist conspiracy against Islam. Since 1928, when Sheikh Hasan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brothers in Ismailiyah, the notion that Jews are by nature evil and can never peacefully co-exist with others has been axiomatic for the fundamentalist organization. An equally self-evident corollary is the denial of any possibility of Jewish self-rule (let alone aJewish state) or even of civic equality with Muslims.

The establishment of Israel in 1948 further reinforced this Islamist doctrine of Zionism as a malevolent force and a permanent enemy.16 It was given a more systematic expression in the 1950s by Sayyed Qutb, the most important and influential of the Brotherhood’s thinkers, who was repeatedly imprisoned, tortured, and eventually executed by Nasir’s police state in 1966. For Qutb, the term ‘Jews’ became virtually interchangeable with ‘enemies of Islam’. The struggle against the Jews would continue indefinitely because the Jewish enemy would never rest until Islam was destroyed. Qutb was even convinced that Nasir himself was an “agent of Zionism” as were all the secular nationalist westernizing regimes in the Middle East. Qutb also railed against the “army of the learned”—the secularist professors, philosophers, writers, poets, and scientists carrying Muslim names yet undermining the sacred religion of Islam “in the service of Zionism.”17 Qutb’s heirs in the Brotherhood were especially outraged by President Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem in 1977 and his “fallacious peace” with the arch-enemy Israel.

After 1979, their spiritual leader and the chief editor of ‘al-Dawah’ [The Call to Islam], Umar al-Tilmisani, spared no effort in denouncing the diabolical nature of the Jews and Israel’s malicious intent to destroy the Islamic foundations of Egypt. Normalization of relations with Israel, he wrote, would only lead to deceitful anti-Muslim propaganda, white slavery, drug-taking, general economic exploitation, and the infiltration of a wholly decadent mass culture.18 For al-Tilmisani and his fellow Muslim brothers thirty years ago, normalization with Israel was the greatest “catastrophe” imaginable — nothing less than “the most dangerous cancer eating away at all the life cells in our bodies.”19 Exchanging ambassadors with the Jewish State was equivalent to “opening the gates of evil on Egypt,” a spiritual death in exchange for the bribe of billions of American dollars and final capitulation tothe “world Zionist conspiracy.”

Following Sadat’s assassination (a revolutionary fundamentalist act), the already cold peace with Israel became virtually frozen – not least because of the strength of the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies. During the next three decades of Hosni Mubarak’s repressive rule, demonization of the Jews continued unchecked in the Egyptian media, despite massive American economic aid to Egypt and a common strategic interest with Israel in containing Islamism. Nonetheless, anti-Semitism remained, as before, the daily bread of Egyptian politics. Mubarak and his government colleagues permitted it as a safety valve and an outlet for popular rage that might otherwise have turned against the corruption of the regime. The fundamentalists, in turn, maintained their long-term goals of one day destroying the peace with Israel, thereby “saving Islam” and establishing an authentic Islamic state ruled by Sharia law.As recently as 1 January 2012, the deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood,Rashad Bayoumi, told the Arabic daily al-Hayat that his organization will never “recognize Israel at all,” whatever the circumstances. He emphasized that the Brotherhood regarded Israel as a “criminal enemy” and would initiate legal proceedings toward cancelling the 1979 peace treaty.20

With regard to Israel and the Jews, the fundamentalist attitude has never deviated during the past few decades, closely linked as it is to a truly paranoid fear of “Judaization”—often a synonym for secularism, westernization, liberal modernity, or “globalization.” Paradoxically, Brotherhood ideologues, despite their rabid anti-Westernism, have no problem in drawing liberally on non-Muslim sources for their radical anti-Semitism—whether it be the Russian Tsarist Protocols of the Elders of Zion forgery, Henry Ford’s The International Jew, Hitler’s Mein Kampf, European antisemitic propaganda about Judeo-Masonic conspiracies, Christian anti-Talmudism, blood-libel slanders, or Western Holocaust denial.21 Egypt has long been saturated by this type of semi-pornographic stream of anti-Semitic vitriol directed at the “Satanic Jews,” publicly licensed and frequently legitimized by seemingly respectable journalists, academics, and Egyptian intellectuals. Such libels have been common among Nasirists, a number of Egyptian “liberals,” and even some leftists as well as among Islamists of every shade or coloring.22 Though the question of Palestine is often present as the trigger for such deep antagonism, much of the hostility also relates to the presumed “cultural assault” on Egypt that derives not only from Israel’s physical existence but from the imagined “essence” of Judaism and Jewry.23

The current unleashing of radical Islamist forces throughout Egypt has hardly improved matters. Thus, at a venomous Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo’s most prominent mosque on November 25, 2011, Islamic activists ominously chanted “Tel Aviv, judgment day has come,” vowing to “one day kill all Jews.” The rally had been  called to promote the “battle against Jerusalem’s Judaization” and was peppered with hate-filled speeches about the “treacherous Jews.” There were explicit calls for jihad and for the liberation of all of Palestine as well as references to the well-known hadith concerning a future Muslim annihilation of the Jews. Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University (the most senior clerical authority in Sunni Islam), even claimed that to this day Jews everywhere in the world are seeking to prevent Egyptian and Islamic unity. He added: “The al-Aqsa Mosque is currently under an offensive by the Jews… We shall not allow the Zionists to judaize al-Quds [Jerusalem].”24 Such threats have been a consistent theme among Egyptian Islamic preachers and spokesmen of the Muslim Brotherhood for the past eighty years. The theme of the “treacherous Jews” has deep roots indeed in the Quran and hadith. It has also animated the Palestinian Hamas ever since its creation twenty-four years ago—inspiring its visceral Jew-hatred, rabid anti-Westernism, and jihadist ideology. Not surprisingly for an organizational offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’s Sacred Covenant of 1988 includes in its preamble an emphatic quote from Sheikh Hassan al-Banna: “Israel will exist, and continue to exist, until Islam abolishes it…”25 Hamas’s Islamic credo, its advocacy of jihad, its anti-Semitic world-view, and hatred of Israel are all inextricably linked to the ideology of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood—of which it proudly claims to be the Palestinian wing. Article 7 of the Hamas Covenant underlines, for example, the continuous jihad of the Brotherhood against “the Zionist invasion” in 1936, 1948, and 1968, as the unbreakable chain connected to the founding of Hamas itself in 1988. All of these revolts were driven by the same conviction that Palestine is an inalienable possession “for all generations of Muslims” until the end of time.26

The mob assault in 2011 on the Israeli embassy in Cairo was not led by the Islamists but rather by a motley crew of anarchists, “democrats,” and apolitical hardcore soccer fans known as the Ultras, some of whom even waved Egyptian flags with swastikas and chanted slogans such as “We will export no gas, we shall burn you with gasoline.”27 Evidently, with or without the blessings of Allah, or citations from the Quran, the Egyptian masses required no special guidance in focusing on the traditional scapegoat of Israel in order to vent their mounting frustrations. Admittedly, such pressure from the Egyptian street does not mean that the fragile peace treaty with Israel will be cancelled overnight. But the calls for such a step have been repeatedly heard in recent months from the “liberal” and more leftist sectors of the political spectrum as well as from the Islamist parties.

This trend reflects a broader, nationalist mood within the midst of the revolutionary chaos that co-exists alongside the antisemitic religious ideology of the Brotherhood. It is sobering to observe how few professors of Middle East studies at American or European universities seem able or willing to grasp the true nature of the Muslim Brotherhood, let alone display any interest in its visceral anti-Westernism  or ferocious anti-Semitism. Today, very few academics seek to elucidate its core ideology or long-term goals, let alone acknowledge their incompatibility with liberal democracy, human rights, or a stable world order. Instead, the general consensus was that overthrowing Mubarak would lead to pluralistic democracy with the Muslim Brothers pursuing a benignly constructive role. Typically, fundamentalist attitudes to Egypt’s Jews and Christians, or to the anti-Semitic legacy, were either whitewashed or simply ignored. At the same time, the implications of Egypt’s revolution for American (and Israeli) strategic interests were generally viewed through rose-tinted glasses.28 Much the same can be said of British, French, and German academic responses to the recent upheavals in the Middle East, with a few honorable exceptions. Regarding anti-Semitism in particular, the prevailing trend in Germany (as elsewhere in Western Europe) has been to trivialize the genocidal expressions of anti-Semitism in the Muslim world, to misleadingly compare them to “Islamophobia” in the West, or to simply rationalize them out of existence.29

A recent article by Middle East analyst Barry Rubin on the Muslim Brotherhood as a kind of functional equivalent to the long-since defunct Communist International can help us restore a broader perspective. The Brotherhood has been steadily expanding its influence in recent decades across the Middle East and even into Europe and North America. Moreover, it has now emerged as the strongest political force in Egypt, poised, for the first time, to achieve control of the state. As Rubin points out, the movement is maturing into a “transnational alliance” between governments and powerful opposition movements in various Middle Eastern countries. His chilling scenario for the end of 2012 seems more than plausible: … the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the Middle East — in Egypt, the Gaza Strip, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Turkey, about a quarter billion people in all — will be governed by radical Islamist regimes that believe in waging jihad on Israel and America, wiping Israel off the map, suppressing Christians, reducing the status of women to even lower than it is now, and in their right as the true interpreters of God’s will to govern as dictators.”30

The only addition that I would make to this all-too-sobering prospect is that Islamist regimes are also animated by an endemic, irrational, and religiously-oriented anti-Semitism that bodes ill for the comfortable liberal assumption that they can be easily bought off, contained, or relied upon to spontaneously embrace universal human rights. The ability of the Brotherhood and its Islamist offshoots to polish their “democratic” image for Western consumption should not be underestimated nor should it fool anyone. Not only Israel, but Europe, America, and the more liberal sectors of Arab public opinion in the Middle East should get ready for more stormy weather ahead.

About the author

Robert S. Wistrich is Professor of Modern History and Director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author and editor of more than twenty-five books dealing with the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, the history of Zionism, socialist movements, radical Islam, and the role of Jews in modern European culture. Prof. Wistrich’s magnum opus, A Lethal Obsession: From Anti-Semitism to the Global Jihad, was published in New York last year. It was widely considered to be the book of the year in the field of anti-Semitism studies and received several awards. His most recent book, Muslimische Antisemitismus. Eine aktuelle Gefahr, has just been published in Berlin.Notes

1 Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, “Egypt’s Islamist Extremists Claim Landslide Win,” israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/150856#.Tu-w51bNSIU (December 19, 2011).2 Benny Morris, “Arab Spring or Islamist Surge?” Australia-Israel Review (December, 2011), 20–21.3 Dore Gold, “Diplomacy after the Arab Uprisings,” The Jerusalem Post, December 15, 2011.4 See Rachid al-Ghannouchi, “Secularism in the Arab Maghreb,” Islam and Secularism in the Middle East, Azzam Tamimi and John L. Esposito (eds.) (London, 2000), pp. 115–123. See also Azzam S. Tamimi, Rachid Ghannouchi: A Democrat within Islamism (Oxford, 2001).5 See Nicholas Kristof, “Joining a dinner in a Muslim Brotherhood home,” The New York Times, December 7, 2011. For a more critical analysis, see Uriya Shavit, “Islamotopia: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Idea of Democracy,” Azure XLVI (Autumn, 2011), 35–62.  See also Hillel Fradkin and Lewis Libby, “Egypt’s Islamists: A Cautionary Tale,” Commentary (April, 2011), 17–21.6 Quoted by Fradkin and Libby, op. cit., p. 19. On Al-Banna, see Brynjar Lia, The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement, 1928–1942 (Ithaca, 1998).7 For example, on the Nasirist period, see the classic study by Y. Harkabi, Arab Attitudes to Israel (Jerusalem, 1972).8 Quoted by Or Avi-Guy, “Anti-Semitism re-emerges in the Arab Spring,” The Jerusalem Post, December 15, 2011.9 Andrew G. Boston, “Lara Logan and Egyptian Jew-Hatred,” American Thinker, February 16, 2011; Martin Krossel, “Western Media Ignore Anti-Semitism in Egypt,”Frum Forum, February 23, 2011, frumforum.com/media-ignores-anti-semitism-inegypt.10 For an account of Qaradawi’s unique status, see Jakob Skovgaard-Peterson, “Yusuf al-Qaradawi and al-Azhar,” Global Mufti: The Phenomenon of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Bettina Gräf and Jakob Skovgaard-Peterson (eds.) (London, 2009), pp. 27–53; and Husam Tamman, “Yusuf Qaradawi and the Muslim Brothers: The Nature of a Special Relationship,”  ibid., pp. 55–83. Also useful, though somewhat indulgent, is the Wikipedia entry, accessed on 15 March 2011, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/yusuf_al-Qaradawi/.11 See Alexander Smoltczyk, “The Voice of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood,” Spiegel Online, February 15, 2011. See also Oren Kessler, “Yusuf al-Qaradawi—a ‘man for all seasons’,” The Jerusalem Post, February 20, 2011. The quote is taken from Fradkin/Libby, “Egypt’s Islamists,” op. cit., p. 21.12 “Yusuf al-Qaradawi tells BBC Newsnight that Islam justifies suicide bombings, bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/07_july/07/newsnight.shtml; also / islamon/ine.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/ FatwaE/FatwaEcid=1119503543546.13 “Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi on Al-Jazeera Incites Against Jews, Arab Regimes andthe US,” MEMRI—Special Dispatch No. 2183, January 12, 2009, memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archivesArea= sdID=SP218309.14 “Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: Allah imposed Hitler upon the Jews to Punish Them–(memritv.org/clip/en/2005.htm), MEMRI-TV, Clip no. 2005, Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar), January 28–30.15 Jeffrey Goldberg, “Sheikh Qaradawi Seeks Total War,” February 23, 2011, seetheatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/02/Sheikh-qaradawi-seeks-totalwar/71626/. This anti-Jewish hadith appears in the Charter of Hamas (the Palestinianbranch of the Muslim Brotherhood) and ends: “The last day will not come unless you fight Jews. A Jew will hide himself behind stones and trees and stones and trees will say, “O Servant of Allah—or O Muslim—there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”16 See Ronald L. Nettler, “Islam vs. Israel,” Commentary (December 1984), 26–30; and Nettler, “Islamic Archetypes of the Jews: Then and Now,” Anti-Zionism and Anti- Semitism in the Contemporary World, Robert S. Wistrich (ed.) (New York, 1990). 17 Sayyed Qutb’s seminal essay “Our Batttle against the Jews,” written in the early 1950s, was first published in Saudi Arabia in 1970, four years after his execution by Nasir. Ronald L. Nettler, Past Trials and Present Tribulations: A Muslim Fundamentalist’s View of the Jews (Oxford, 1987) is a translation into English of Qutb’s text with some additional comments by the translator. It was commissioned by the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.18 See my A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad (New York,2010), p. 807.19 Nettler, “Islam vs. Israel,” op. cit., p. 28.20 “Muslim Brotherhood Vows to Not Recognize Israel,” The Jerusalem Post, January 1, 2012.21 Robert S. Wistrich, A Lethal Obsession, op cit., pp. 809–811. See also Matthias Küntzel, Djihad und Judenhass (Freiburg, 2002), pp. 28–102 on the Nazi roots of Islamistantisemitism.22 See Rivka Yadlin, An Arrogant Oppressive Spirit: Anti-Zionism as Anti-Judaism in Egypt (Oxford, 1989), published for the Vidal Sassoon International Center.23 Ibid., pp. 103–129.24 Eldad Beck, “Cairo rally: One day we’ll kill all Jews,” ynetnews.com, November 25, 2011. See also Or Avi-Guy, “Anti-Semitism re-emerges …,” op. cit.25 See Wistrich, A Lethal Obsession, op. cit., p. 235.26 Ibid.27 Josef Joffe, “Arabischer Frühling, Erwachen im Herbst,” zeit.de/2011/38/Israel/ komplettansicht. See also Samuel Tadros, “One Nation for New Holocaust,” The Weekly Standard, October 4, 2011.28 Janet Doerflinger, “Whitewashing the Muslim Brotherhood,” FrontPageMagazine.com, May 20, 2011, meforum.org/2910/whitewashing-muslim-brotherhood.29 See Clemens Heni, Schadenfreude. Islamforschung und Antisemitismus in Deutschland nach9/11 (Berlin, 2011), for an incisive critique of the willful failure of most Germanacademics to grasp the nature of Islamism, jihad, and antisemitism in the Arab MiddleEast. Also relevant is my Muslimische Antisemitismus. Eine aktuelle Gefahr (Berlin, 2011). 30 See Barry Rubin, “Islamism: 21st Century Communism,” The Jerusalem Post, December 11, 2011. 

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‘Women Who Rock’: Mahalia Jackson

1328780227 63 ‘Women Who Rock’: Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson's 1962 concert poster is featured in the Rock Hall's "Women Who Rock" exhibit.

Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) reigned as a pioneer of gospel music.

Her voice stayed the spiritual course even as blues and R&B departed on paths that led to rock and roll.

Jackson’s powerful voice has proved inspirational to artists such as Little Richard.

Artifacts from Mahalia Jackson’s life are featured in the “Suffragettes to Juke-Joint Mamas: The Foremothers/Roots of Rock” section in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power” exhibit.

Click HERE to read more about Mahalia Jackson and the other women being honored.

(Information, picture provided by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.)

*Watch video below to see Mahalia Jackson perform “Amazing Grace.”

Often a lot safer to use are auction sites. These are clear beliefs. He additionally co-stars with Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester in Screen Gems' "Country Strong." He's received 3 Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, 10 American Music Awards, three People's Choice Awards and a large number of different honors. Here's the major reason. Downing). The image of Boney M with 3 girls & most of the voodoo master contributed with the band's success, but their orchestration was fine & the group got hits in The eu with "Daddy Cool" around 1976, "Sunny" & "Ma Baker" during 1977 & their cover in the Melodians' reggae song "Rivers Regarding Babylon" in 1978, the third most sold single in england. "It was literally at 10:00 the night before that I spoke with Kevin and went over which parts I did and which harmonies and solos he would have to do. His care for Leila is an interior designer and the father Eber Lambert is a instruct boss who moving parts in place of Novatel Wireless. I wasn't sure what this meant at first but soon I figured it out. Corey Smith's performance this past weekend was at The Pageant in Saint Louis. I must fulfill my fantasy with concert. We have said that before touching on music site because it all can last for years. You ought to fight fire with fire. First, they photographed the audience, as they do at all their shows, and then uploaded a to Facebook so concertgoers could tag themselves.

Mark Ellis and Torquay United edging closer to common ground

1328663832 53 Mark Ellis and Torquay United edging closer to common ground

Torquay United manager Martin Ling says that centre-half Mark Ellis will be handed a firm contract offer by the npower League Two club in the next 24 hours.

The Gulls’ boss and the powerful 23-year-old defender have been talking over a new deal for a couple of weeks. Ellis’s current contract runs out in the summer

  1. Mark Ellis. Picture by Pinnacle

United managed to hang on to Kingsbridge-born Ellis through last month’s transfer window, and both parties now appear ready to extend their commitment to each other.

Ling would not reveal the details of the latest offer, but said: “Things have gone well, I see Mark as a big part of the future here, and I’m hoping that we may be able to get it all sorted later this week.”

Ling is also talking over a new deal with midfielder Damon Lathrope, 22.

“We’re not under any great pressure over either Mark or Damo, because they are both under 24 and they would not be ‘Bosman’ free transfers in the summer, as Chris Robertson would have been,” said Ling. “But I want them both to stay here, and it’s only right that we extend their contracts.

“Damon’s might take a little longer, but that’s not because of any problems and our talks are going well.”

United sold centre-back Robertson to Preston North End for a fee in the region of £50,000 last week, and Ling confirmed that the deal will help in his future transfer dealings.

The Gulls’ boss is planning to strengthen his promotion-chasing squad with a defender and a forward from the loan market.

“There was what I call a ‘safety pot’ in the budget anyway, and Chris leaving does give me a bit more spending power, more leeway if you like, not just this season but next,” said Ling.

“It frees up Chris’s wages, and then there’s the transfer fee as well.”

Rotherham United, whose match with Torquay was postponed last weekend because of a frozen pitch at Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium, will now entertain the Gulls on Tuesday, March 13.

There is a key fixture in the League Two promotion race tonight – Crawley Town (fourth) will jump to the top of the table if they beat current leaders Cheltenham Town at Broadfield Stadium.

Then, on Friday night, Southend United (second) play mid-table Rotherham at Roots Hall before a Saturday programme which sees another intriguing round of fixtures in the top half of the table.

Torquay (sixth) entertain Shrewsbury Town (fifth), Accrington Stanley (eighth) play Oxford United (seventh), Burton Albion (ninth) play Gillingham (tenth) and Port Vale (11th) host local rivals Crewe Alexandra (12th).

This time they drew a crowd upwards of 200 people who wanted to not only hear their favorite Iron Maiden songs, but also see the lively show that Purgatory was gaining notoriety for. Also because there will not be only music: you will be offered samples of Hungarian wine, and the ones who will buy a ticket on the ground floor will have the possibility to enjoy the concert while eating a wonderful meal with typical Hungarian dishes. You should be mindful of that. It should be an unlimited version. Despite the fact that many rooms are filled with desks and chairs, the end of one hallway is completely unfinished. She credits gay community for her mainstream success and supports them. It may take a day to get the money into your account, but you do not have to drive anywhere or wait in any long lines to get your loan. Where was the dignity? Possibly a better way to deal with such is through swap sites; where concert tickets can be exchanged between like minded individuals. Wouldn't it work for us? I guessed free streaming music would be quite helpful. Free internet music needs greater scrutiny. I'd take that any day over a free music site this looked awesome. Music Guitar style and collaborations DiFranco's guitar playing is often characterized by a signature staccato style, rapid fingerpicking and many alternate tunings.

Finding the Best Firewalls Connected with 2012 ( space ) Techniques Launched

1328243827 33 Finding the Best Firewalls Connected with 2012 ( space ) Techniques Launched

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Many North Americans have not used a concert more than once due to this. If people are lucky, they may even be able to capture a picture of Kenny. Interspersed were comedians such as Robin Williams who did comedy routines in between bands to keep the crowd engaged. Free music videos continuously brings smiles and happiness to mavericks from all walks of life. Only virtuosos wanting to lose funds wouldn't invest in music for free. As for the four bands after Mutiny that was when the concert really began to pick up momentum and I, along with the rest of the crowd, actually began to have some fun. Subsequent finishing the primary leg with the tour (which included Latin America plus the U.S.), he launched his up coming sole, "It can be Alright" (Spanish edition: "Djate Llevar").