Purported Qaeda Video Threatens -- and Thanks -- Germany

The appearance of a purported Al-Qaeda video message threatening Germany has been widely reported. What has been less reported, however, are the profuse words of thanks to Germany with which the video begins.

See my new article on Pajamas Media here.

"New" Trans-Int Site Back Online

Please note that a redesigned version of the old "new" Trans-Int site is now back online at www.trans-int.com. Consider this a "beta" period. So, I will for the time being post new posts both at this blogspot site and at trans-int.com. Please beware that the content of the two sites is not identical. Though I have done some reposting, the majority of posts exist only on one site or the other. Thanks as always for your interest.

Rendition "Victim" Masri Assaults German Mayor

During the last years of the Bush administration, Khaled Al-Masri, aka Khaled El-Masri, became the poster child of the international campaign again the American program of “extraordinary renditions.” Last Friday, Masri was arrested after assaulting the mayor of the German city of Neu-Ulm. This was just the latest in a series of violent crimes committed by Masri in recent years. But, curiously enough, the German courts have yet to sentence him to any jail time.

For the details, see my new article on Pajamas Media here.

Neo-Nazis Join Islamists at Al-Quds Day Demonstration in Berlin

Alongside the internationally better known National-Democratic Party of Germany or “NPD,” the German People’s Union (DVU) is one of the two main German political parties of the so-called “extreme Right.” A statement published by the DVU on Wednesday, however, makes clear just how misleading it is to describe Germany’s contemporary Nazi groups as “right-wing.” The topic of the DVU statement is the “Al-Quds Day” demonstration that was held on Saturday in Berlin.

For the details, see my new article on Pajamas Media here.

David Irving, El Mundo and the Banality of Revisionism

The decision of the Spanish daily El Mundo to publish an interview with the revisionist historian David Irving has sparked controversy. But consideration of the actual content of the interview reveals that the central tenet of Irving’s revisionism has, in effect, become part of the European mainstream.

See my new article on Pajamas Media here.

Germany and the Shalit Negotiations: Helping Israel or Helping Hamas?

There has been much talk lately of Germany negotiating a deal for the release of the Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit. The accent in the English-language reports has been placed on the “help” being provided by Germany to the Israelis. But a headline in the August 27 edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) offers a different perspective. “Hamas is Counting on the Germans,” it reads...

See my new article on Pajamas Media here.

Afghanistan and the German Elections

“German Party Calls for Plan for Removal of Troops From Afghanistan”. Thus ran the headline of a recent article in the New York Times. In the meanwhile, a German party has indeed called for a plan for removing German troops. But, unfortunately for the New York Times, it is not the party about which the Times was talking...

See my new article on Pajamas Media here.