Iran warns Switzerland over minaret ban
Iran warned Switzerland on Saturday of “consequences” over a referendum banning the building of new mosque minarets and urged Bern not to enforce the ban, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The vote went “against the prestige of a country which claims to be an advocate of democracy and human rights,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey in a telephone call, quoted by IRNA.
[…]IRNA said Switzerland’s ambassador in Tehran was summoned on Saturday before the foreign ministry, which protested against the minaret ban which was backed by more than 57% of voters who cast their ballot on November 29.
Calmy-Rey said the referendum was carried out against the will of the Swiss government, which would “use all its means to support Muslims rights,” the IRNA report added.
The referendum on a constitutional ban on minarets was proposed by a rightwing Swiss party and had not been expected to succeed.
Obama approval rating below 50 percent
ON A CNN POLL
Forty-eight percent of Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. national survey released Friday said they approve of the job Obama is doing as president — a drop of 7 percentage points from a survey last month.
Obama Ignores ‘Climate-Gate’ in Revising Copenhagen Plans
The scandal has prompted calls for Obama from global warming skeptics to skip this month’s climate summit in Copenhagen — instead, the White House is doubling down on its commitment.
Russia turns to Israel for help in investigation into train bombing
And in case you missed it:
The Illegal-Settlements Myth – (link from Wrath-of-God)
NYT’s op-ed – The 9/11 of 1859 – (hattip to snork)
Few if any Americans today would question the justness of John Brown’s cause: the abolition of human bondage. But as the nation prepares to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who calls himself the architect of the 9/11 attacks, it may be worth pondering the parallels between John Brown’s raid in 1859 and Al Qaeda’s assault in 2001.
Yes, he said that. And it seems Bernadine Dohrn thinks she’s the 60’s equivilent:
Pro-violence abolitionist John Brown studied in NY
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — John Brown, the 19th-century abolitionist who advocated armed violence, is drawing a diverse crowd this week to study how his fight against slavery continues to play in America.
[…]Organizers say the symposium, on Friday and Saturday, will examine the impact of Brown’s fight against slavery on America then and how it reverberates today. Speakers include Bernardine Dohrn, one of the best-known leaders of the 1960s radical group the Weather Underground; Maria Suarez, a Mexican immigrant who was virtually enslaved by a Southern California man after being lured to work for him in 1976; Russell Banks, author of the fictional Brown biography “Cloudsplitter”; and Alice Keesey Mecoy, a Brown descendant.
[…]“We’re trying to get people to take a look at the use of violence in our country — why American culture uses violence to achieve an end,” Wikoff said.
Dohrn would be an expert at that.
Outraged by the Vietnam War and racism in America, a group of young American radicals announced their intention to “bring the war home.” The Weather Underground waged a low-level war against the U.S. government through much of the 1970s, bombing the Capitol building, breaking Timothy Leary out of prison, and evading one of the largest FBI manhunts in history.
