Over in Sweden, they’ve been investigating the Grand Mosque of Stockholm. Apparently, it’s the one-stop shop for all your jihad needs: you can buy audio cassettes at the mosque encouraging you to become a martyr and sally forth to kill “the brothers of pigs and apes” — i.e. Jews. So somebody filed a racial-incitement complaint and the coppers started looking into it, and then Sweden’s chancellor of justice, Goran Lambertz, stepped in. And Mr. Lambertz decided to close down the investigation on the grounds that, even though the porcine-sibling stuff is “highly degrading,” this kind of chit-chat “should be judged differently — and therefore be regarded as permissible — because they were used by one side in an ongoing and far-reaching conflict where calls to arms and insults are part of the everyday climate in the rhetoric that surrounds this conflict.”

In other words, if you threaten to kill people often enough, it will be seen as part of your vibrant cultural tradition — and, by definition, we’re all cool with that. Celebrate diversity, etc. Our tolerant multicultural society is so tolerant and multicultural we’ll tolerate your intolerant uniculturalism. Your antipathy to diversity is just another form of diversity for us to celebrate.

Diversity-wise, Europe is a very curious place — and I mean that even by Canadian standards. In her latest book, The Force of Reason, the fearless Oriana Fallaci, Italy’s most-read and most-sued journalist, recounts some of her recent legal difficulties with the Continental diversity coercers. The Federal Office of Justice in Berne asked the Italian government to extradite her over her last book, The Rage and The Pride, so she could be charged under Article 261b of the Swiss Criminal Code. As she points out, Article 261b was promulgated in order to permit Muslims “to win any ideological or private lawsuit by invoking religious racism and racial discrimination. ‘He-didn’t-chase-me-because-I’m-a-thief-but-because-I’m-a-Muslim.’ ” She’s also been sued in France, where suits against writers are routine now. She has had cases brought against her in her native Italy and, because of the European Arrest Warrant, which includes charges of “xenophobia” as grounds for extradition from one EU nation to another, most of the Continent is now unsafe for her to set foot in. What’s impressive is the range of organized opposition: the Islamic Centre of Berne, the Somali Association of Geneva, the SOS Racism of Lausanne, and a group of Muslim immigrants in Neuchatel, just to name a random sampling of her Swiss plaintiffs. After the London bombings and the French riots, the commentariat lined up to regret that European Muslims are insufficiently “assimilated.” But, in fact, at least in their mastery of legalisms and victimology, they’re superbly assimilated. One might say the same of the imam who took my chums at The Western Standard to the Alberta Human Rights Commission over their publication of the Danish cartoons.

Johnj: I'm opposed to corporate welfare, rural welfare, etc.

I'd also like to point out that whilst there may (or may not be) problems with a free market system if it were to occur, we don't actually have a free market system anywhere in the world, so we can't actually say. What opponents of this economic theory conveniently miss is that a free market entails no government interference. The U.S., which is often touted as the evil villain of the free market, is in fact anything but run on free market principles.

I'm certainly against imposing our values direcly through war, etc., (and I'm also against indirect government involvement through foreign aid), but I really think in some places we're flushing money down the toilet. I think a massive, massive part of the problem is the cultures of the places involved. To provide some neo-Weberian analysis, I really don't think it's a coincidence that regions that are hamstrung by collective world views that are at best from the Dark Ages are completely backward, especially when often, the first (and only) port of call in the realm of education is to memorise a religious text. Until some regions see the equivalent historical periods to the west's Renaissance, Reformation and Age of Enlightenment, then we're going to continue to see many parts of the world lag drastically behind.

Giving aid to developing nations like in Africa is just fair because Europeans/whites have basically robbed the continent dry by extracting its manpower (slavery) and its natural resources during colonialism. How many whites have grown rich out of exploiting Africans mercilessly at past and present? It is just fair that whites give some of their wealth back to Africans.

Just remember, when you start using aid as weapon to bully, intimidate, and violate the sovereignity of aid receipients, naturally all "goodwill" you hoped to gain will evaporate immediately. This case is especially guaranteed when the "aid-receipient" do not need this "aid" as the country absolutely does not depend on aid from anybody.

That is why any goodwill towards Australia for its tsunami aid in Indonesia have evaporated once Australians start threatening to "cut aid" if Aussie drug-smuggler Schapelle Corby was not given impunity from Indonesian law.

...*continued*...

Because:
1) Indonesia does not need Australian aid as we don't depend on any aid money. Australians MUST know this fact.
2) No country will ever surrender its basic national sovereignity for pledges of aid that might not materialise.

Indon old buddy,
I reckon its no good referring to groups on the basis of skin colour. If you use the term "whites" you must also be prepared to be referred to as either coloured, black or yellow. This would be a retrograde step me thinks, but perhaps I'm oversensitive about being white.
Some white people found wealth in Africa, sure, there was a whole slavery industry at some distant time, but anyone with fair skin is not necessarily responsible for past injustices. Some of us have never even been to Africa, much less shared the pillaged wealth or had a bantu washing the car in the driveway.
How do you feel about Mugabe's way of restoring things in Zimbabwe? When do you think Ethiopia will be self reliant...or if...
Are any of these Pacific nations recieving Australian aid actually doind anything to better their situation, or does the headman tend to drive a flash car? Maybe some are, the tendency is to build such a windfall into the budget and become ever more reliant, Which is the real issue.
Schapelle gets 20 years for a bit of puff, The same amount of time got by drug smugglers trying to import serious quantities of heroin into Australia. Apples and oranges? I'll wear that.
Indonesia not being dependant on Australian aid is perhaps just one more valid reason that a person who is proud to be of Indonesian extraction could use on their application to reside in Indonesian territory. Of course there would be difficulties if you were proud to be Wesr Papuan or Acenese or disagreed with the current dictator in any way, shape or form.