Oran - A Paradise Lost

This bittersweet video shows the decline of the city of Oran in Algeria, the setting for Albert Camus' great novel The Plague, and home to many thousands of Frenchmen and other Europeans for over a century. Colonization was not to last and ended in unspeakable brutality, but for some the memories of what life was like in Oran give them solace.

The first image in this video is an old photo of the city, possibly from a postcard. It then moves to more current views and asks "Why?" The final image is of a cheerful well-kept street, with the words "Pourquoi pas cela?" ("Why not this?"). Then a word of thanks to someone named Edgar for showing that the old neighborhoods of Oran are dying inexorably.

A Google search on Oran turned up photos of a more thriving modern city (below), so the truth may lie somewhere between: large neglected areas side by side with modern glass skyscrapers.

Question: Does the Algerian government put up these new buildings, with tax revenues, or donations from wealthy Algerians, or does France put them up?


The song is sung by Jean-Pax Méfret, a singer I've just learned about. Here are the lyrics in English, but they have much more meaning in the original French which can be found at the singer's website.

Though my village is still there
Where youngsters set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve,

Though the cemetery is still there
Where girls prayed and made the sign of the cross,

I would not recognize it
They have changed the names of the streets

I come from a country that no longer exists,
I come from a paradise lost.

Though my school is still there
Where I lived my wild years
When I was an adolescent,

Though the arcades are still there
Filled with the odors of pomegranates
And the cries of demonstrators,

The flag that's flying overhead
Does not have the same colors.

I come from a country that no longer exists,
I come from a paradise lost.

The vast expanse of my childhood country
The carts, the olive trees
My memories, my existence
Are constantly mixing in my mind.

It's a strange fate.

I come from a country that no longer exists,
I come from a paradise lost.

H/T: José Castano

The photo of Oran is from Dounia Music.

Paris Celebrates Ramadan - Sequel

Soirée ramadan 2011 à la mairie de Paris by Yann333

Here's a video, just under six minutes, of the ramadan soirée held on August 24 at the Paris City Hall (what a gorgeous interior!). Mayor Bertrand Delanoë greets his guests. Two persons speak to a reporter at several points in the video, but the man's voice did not come through clearly to me. All I could grasp was that he is glad to see the Paris City Hall for the first time, and he doesn't mind a little controversy over a ramadan soirée. The woman, on the other hand, is very clear. She speaks of the joys of multiculturalism, saying that Paris is the very emblem of multiculturalism. She points out, with great satisfaction, that all the ethnic communities are partying side by side, and she makes it sound very normal, as if anything else would not be in keeping with the Parisian spirit.

There are brief snatches of Arabic music. On the walls of the large salon are paintings, some of them depicting nudes, something that would never be allowed in a Muslim-administered public building.

All in all, a somewhat less than spiritual or ascetic scene, but then Mayor Delanoë has said that ramadan is not a religious holiday. For the mayor it's an opportunity to win the minds and hearts of Muslims, in the event he should decide to run in the presidential election.

The video was posted at Novopress on August 28 along with a brief article that reveals the huge cost of this soirée:

The ramadan soirée given on Wednesday by the mayor of Paris created an animated debate among political leaders. Because of its cost (99,000 euros just for the Iftar meal and the cultural activities) and because of its religious nature.

Note: As I indicated, ramadan has been turned into a secular festival by the cunning mayor of Paris.

Furthermore, as a sign of opposition, the members of the Projet Apache (the Bloc Identitaire of Paris) had pasted several hundred protest posters around City Hall the night before.

Below the poster from the Projet Apache showing a rather comical photo of the mayor with these words:

"Today Parisians are homeless, the French have no money, the Europeans are watching their future go down the drain. But I prefer to spend money on RAMADAN!"



I rarely deal with economic issues here, but another article from Novopress reveals that unemployment in France has grown considerably for the third straight month in a row. Young people are the hardest hit, but the article does not say which young people. The politicians pretend it will all go away.

Update: August 29 - I should have added this link to the post. It will send you to the original article about the ramadan soirée.

Getting What We Deserve

In recent days I have received three comments from readers containing quotes worth repeating. The first one appears at a post about a rape.

"And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply
deserved everything that happened afterward."

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I translated the second quote from the French:

And now my country, France, my homeland, my land is again invaded, with the blessings of successive governments, by a massive foreign population, Muslim principally, to whom we pledge allegiance. From this Islamic overflow, we are expected to endure, against our will, all traditions. Year in, year out, we see mosques arising everywhere in France while our church steeples are silent, for lack of priests.

- Brigitte Bardot, Le Figaro, April 26, 1996.

The third comment (from the same post as the preceding one) concerns a topic I deal with often at GalliaWatch:

Soeren Kern at the Hudson NY (via Big Peace) has some very scary info on the increase of Islam in France:

Islamic mosques are being built more often in France than Roman Catholic churches, and there now are more practising Muslims in the country than practising Catholics.

Nearly 150 new mosques currently are under construction in France, home to the biggest Muslim community in Europe. The mosque-building projects are at various stages of completion, according to Mohammed Moussaoui, the president of the Muslim Council of France (CFCM), who provided the data in an August 2 interview with the French radio station RTL.

The total number of mosques in France has already doubled to more than 2,000 during just the past ten years, according to a research report "Constructing Mosques: The Governance of Islam in France and the Netherlands." France's most prominent Muslim leader, Dalil Boubakeur, who is rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, recently called for the number of mosques in the country to be doubled again – to 4,000 – to meet growing demand.

By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church in France has built only 20 new churches during the past decade, and has formally closed more than 60 churches, many of which are destined to become mosques, according to research conducted by La Croix, a Roman Catholic daily newspaper based in Paris. [...]


Above, the Omar Ibn al Khattab mosque in the city of Tarbes, France. From Islamisation. The text accompanying the image says:

The first stone was laid in April 2005 in the presence of the mayor, the prefect of Hautes-Pyrénées, Louis Nogaro, priest of the Sainte-Thérèse parish, and André Pastor, priest of the Saint-Martin parish.

The author then relates the acts of the historical Omar Ibn al Khattab, who set out to conquer Christian lands in the 7th century. He concludes:

By attending the inaugurations of all the mosques of France (it is systematic), the church leaders, molded by the ideals of Vatican II, have become decidedly suicidal. Discussions between Rome and the SSPX, that are moving forward more rapidly since the publication on July 2 of the motu proprio, are more than welcome. The future of resistance depends in part on these talks.

Note: The SSPX is the Society of St. Pius X, composed of traditionalist Catholics who broke away from the Vatican II ideals, and were excommunicated. Their excommunications were remitted by Benedict XVI. The motu proprio of July 2007 implied a possible reconciliation between the Church and the SSPX.

Intern Rapes Pregnant Woman

As I post, we are under a tornado warning. The storm has hit very hard, but the worst is yet to come. All public transportation shut down about an hour ago. Thousands are without power. So far, we have electricity, but I doubt that our luck will hold. The highest winds are expected in the middle of the night (it is now 11:24 p.m.).

While waiting for total darkness, I thought I would add another grisly post about a pregnant woman who was raped in the hospital by an intern in the city of Troyes. The story was posted on August 25 in the local paper Est-Eclair:

At 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, a young woman, went to the ER of the hospital in Troyes. Fifteen weeks pregnant, she described a feeling of weakness that alarmed her, and some vomiting. They called for an intern gynecologist, age 26, who had been working in the hospital for two years. A reserved, timid, competent boy, according to his patients. So said his colleagues.

Note: The French text says "boy" ("garçon"), so I kept it.

After an initial examination, Dyn (the pseudo given by the Est-Eclair reporter, and an odd one at that) decided to hospitalize the young woman. A few hours later he entered her room and told her she needed a second examination. Unafraid, confident, the woman, 22 years old, followed the intern to an isolated room. They spoke for about an hour, then he gave her a medication that she thought was homeopathic, but that was really an anti-depressant.

He began the examination. Lying on the table the woman was covered with several sheets. The doctor told her to close her eyes and relax. And he raped her.

Terrorized by what had happened, and by what he could still do, the victim swore she would not say anything. Dyn apologized and tried to explain his feeling of wretchedness ("mal-être"). And he allowed her to go back to her room. It was then that she told the doctors who alerted authorities.

In the middle of the night, Dyn was arrested and placed in custody. When questioned he admitted what he had done. He said he had obeyed an impulse. Apparently nothing that he had made the woman endure had been premeditated.

Note: The above line is written in the conditional tense in French, indicating it is all hypothetical.

An investigation has been opened and Dyn for now is in a jail in Chaumont.

Note: Race and ethnicity are not disclosed, but it does not sound like he is an immigrant. He certainly doesn't sound like a Frenchman either. However, there is no way of knowing. At any rate, raping a pregnant girl is so horrible, it makes no difference who he is he must be removed from society.

One reader indicates that this particular hospital is in bad shape:

- Personally, it doesn't surprise me. One stupid thing after another. Nothing that happens at the Troyes hospital center would surprise me…

Another reader also wonders who he is:

- A so-called doctor who is a rapist!!!! Maybe another repeat offender?????

Below, a photo of the hospital. On the outside it looks fine.

The Motion To Dismiss

Note: I had intended to post the Prosecutor's Report explaining why the charges had to be dropped as an appendix to the previous article, but the hurricane appears to have arrived early. Right now it is pouring, although they say the storm itself is still off the North Carolina coast. Since electricity and other necessities may be affected, I will probably not be posting until it is all over.

Here is a link to the report:

You will note that they affirm that a sexual encounter took place - there is no doubt of that; that they feel the brevity of the encounter implies that it was NOT CONSENSUAL; that Diallo gave three different versions of the various events alleged to have taken place; that she was not injured enough to prove a rape had been committed - the "redness" in the genital area was not conclusive. The shoulder injuries were insignificant and could have been caused by anything.

My own opinion, since early July, has been that she had agreed to the encounter in exchange for money (this has been the point of view of DSK's partisans, i.e., the leaders of the Socialist Party). The report does not go into that. Nor does the report say anything about her being a prostitute. The report only implies, very cautiously at that, that the sexual encounter was most likely not consensual. But of course there is no proof beyond a reasonable doubt. So the New York Post story from early July about her life as a prostitute is still not elucidated. Who gave that information to Rupert Murdoch's paper? Obviously someone close to the defense, an associate of Benjamin Brafman?, who was in turn paid by Anne Sinclair?

We may know eventually the true nature of her personal morality if the reporters follow her life and her conduct in the days and months to come. It does not appear that she will be tried for perjury. We already know the true nature of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but he was lucky to have picked a woman who cannot tell truth from fantasy.

Note: You will have an easier time reading the report if you click TEXT at the top.

The Acquittal - One Last Look

I would like to draw to a close the discussion about Dominique Stauss-Kahn's acquittal. There has been, as you know, a deluge of articles and comments. The story itself will go on, and new chapters will be written, but the events of this past Tuesday can be explained primarily, if not exclusively, by the lies, inconsistencies, and altogether crazy behavior of Nafissatou Diallo and the fantasy world in which she lives. I am not saying she was not attacked, only that she made prosecution of her alleged attacker impossible.

This article from the New York Times gives a good summary of the decision to drop charges. The readers' comments are very helpful, at least the first batch printed which are not in chronological order, but chosen by the Times for their content.

You will see from the article and the comments that we were misled into thinking Diallo had made up a story about being gang raped in Africa at the time of her application for entry into the United States. In fact she made up the story during the questioning by the District Attorney. The first comment explains:

After re-reading all of the statements that have been put out about this case, I want to make a point about a small detail that's become a source of great confusion. According to the DA's motion to dismiss and the first news articles about Diallo's credibility issues in early July, she did NOT lie on her asylum application about being gang raped in Africa. In fact, the first time that she told this tale to anyone was to the DA's prosecutors immediately after lodging her complaint against DSK. So, it turns out that she wasn't merely trying to keep her life story "consistent" during her interviews with the prosecutors, as some of her advocates would have us believe. She made up the gang rape story on the spot at the DA's Office for goodness knows what reason.

Somewhere in the course of the media circus this fine distinction was lost, and I think that it is an important one. It helps us to understand that the DA moved to dismiss the charges not because she was a poor, scared woman who just wanted to stick to the story that she gave to immigration officials, but because they found her to be a pathological liar capable of contriving pure fiction in an emotional and believable manner to those--cops, prosecutors, and even the Grand Jury--who were just trying to help her.

Thus, dismissal was the only logical step.

Here is another comment:

To paraphrase the DA's motion to dismiss, there was ample physical evidence that a "hurried sexual encounter" took place between the two at the Sofitel. One element of the crime of rape is provable beyond a reasonable doubt: the sexual encounter. But, to prove rape, you need to prove that the encounter was involuntary and not consensual.

In this case, the DA had to rely solely on the testimony of Diallo to prove that she did not consent. The DA interviewed this woman many times and apparently never got a consistent story out of her, either about the "crime" or events in her past. Then, other credibility destroying facts emerged, including the recorded phone call with the incarcerated boyfriend about her plans to extort DSK.

The DA and his team have correctly come to the conclusion that THEY could not believe her testimony of a forced encounter beyond a reasonable doubt. As a result they had to drop the case.

A prosecutor cannot ethically present a case to a jury which he/she does not believe can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. It would not be ethical for Vance to let this trial proceed and "let the jury decide."

We will never know what went on in the hotel room. Any fair minded person who is familiar with the criminal justice system has to conclude that the NYPD and the Manhattan DA's office consistently acted appropriately given the information they had at the time.

Try as I may I cannot find a silver lining in this. Black and feminist associations may continue to use the case as a pretext for their ideologies, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will return to France and re-enter the political arena. It is fair to assume he will attempt to over-compensate for the lost time and the bad publicity by exerting every ounce of his resourcefulness in the quest for high office. If not the presidency, some other function. Should the Socialists win in 2012, he will surely be given a ministry, maybe finance, maybe foreign affairs. He will continue to work for Turkey's entry into the EU and he will, we can assume, continue to chase women whenever possible, wherever he may be. Would any woman dare to accuse him after this?

This case has absorbed much of our time and mental energy. But more important things have happened since he was first arrested - there were the killings in Norway, the riots in England and the strange events in Libya where a dictator has been toppled leaving a huge void that the Western nations, whose reckless and irresponsible behavior helped to bring about his fall, will be called on to fill.

The Guardian has an article that reveals the disarray of the French Socialists at the thought that HE will be back. Here are some excerpts:

"I'm terrified he'll turn up here," whispered a 50-year-old regional councillor from rural south-west France, who did not want to be named. "If he wants the party to win next year's presidential election, he'll stay well away," she added. "This whole Strauss-Kahn affair is far from over. Politically, he's fried. I don't know how he could come back knowing what we now know about his behaviour. Whatever the truth about these allegations, the whole party was blackened by this saga, its credibility was put on the line." (…)

The French feminist backlash has not abated, and many continue to question how a nine-minute encounter in a hotel room between two complete strangers, a powerful man and a poor hotel worker, could have been consensual.

Strauss-Kahn will not have an easy landing in France. A poll on Friday found 80% of people do not want him to play any role in the Socialist primary race to choose a presidential candidate. If the party elite confidently rushed to proclaim their joy and relief after the New York case was dropped this week, it illustrated how far they are from public feeling. French voters are sceptical over the confusing and unresolved affair. Strauss-Kahn's private life and treatment of women has been pored over, his reputation tarnished. The French justice system also continues to investigate a complaint by the writer Tristane Banon, who said Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her during a 2003 interview.

Read more.

Unqualified for Office

While comments from readers of the New York Times on the Dominque Strauss-Kahn affair stress, with justification, that the D.A. did not have a winning case and that the numerous lies of Nafissatou Diallo made it impossible for prosecutors to feel they could convince a jury that DSK had raped her, the French reactions that I have read stress the fact that he "got away with it." It's a question of emphasis. It is clear that not only did the prosecutors feel they didn't have a strong case, but they had begun to question the worthiness of Diallo herself as a witness and as a victim. It is clear as well that Dominique Strauss-Kahn got away with something, and that he is (so far) a very lucky man.

Bruno Gollnisch, a member of the EU Parliament and of the Front National speaks of the hypocrisy of the Socialists:

It is not because he was accused that Dominique Strauss-Kahn was guilty. But it is not because Madame Diallo lied to get into the United States that he is innocent! Really, are we to believe then that nothing happened?

Even assuming that the "innocence" of Strauss-Kahn can be reduced to a "paid sexual encounter" as his partisans say, that would mean at best that this married man satisfied his instincts by turning to prostitution, placing himself and his position at the mercy of scandal and blackmail, as subsequent events proved.

Note: He speaks of "blackmail", but he does not elaborate.

This type of behavior - and many other things as well - completely disqualify this erotomaniac both as president of the IMF and as a candidate to the Presidency of the Republic.

The majority of Socialists pretend to condemn prostitution. Their friendliness toward Strauss-Kahn today attests to the degree of their hypocrisy.

Most of the twenty-three comments applaud Gollnisch's remarks.

Pregnant Woman Raped On Train

This from Novopress, dated August 23:

A young woman four months pregnant was raped in a train. The attack occurred Sunday morning on the Coulommiers - Gare de l'Est line of the SNCF (French National Rail). The victim, in her thirties, was alone in the car with her attacker who threatened her with a knife pointed at her abdomen.

Thanks to the video surveillance tapes the railroad police brigade was able to arrest, 48 hours later, the alleged rapist in Seine-et-Marne. The young man, 18, of Tunisian origin, is being held. This story is a reminder to us of the murder of Anne-Lorraine Schmitt, stabbed to death by a repeat sexual offender, four years ago in a car of the Regional Rail.

Two comments from Novopress readers:

- I can find no words for this "act", or for him, if it turns out that he belongs to the human, animal, vegetable or mineral world.

"Those" people or those things, call them what you will, are particularly innovative when it comes to the horrible, the odious, the unnameable, the barbaric. I admit that I have limits within myself, if the day should ever come that events force me to commit barbarous acts.

- Swim back to your village!


Above, a photo of the alleged rapist, named Ali, from Le Parisien. The article accompanying the photo provides a few more details (the woman's name was changed):

Sunday, around 6:30 a.m., Daniella, 27, from Rodez in the department of Aveyron, got into the Transilien at the Coulommiers station, en route to the Gare de l'Est in Paris. At that early hour, there are few passengers in the cars. The young woman, a teacher and four months pregnant, was spending a few days vacationing in the Parisian region before going home. She did not notice the young man seated not far from her. Suddenly, he left his seat when the train doors closed after the Guérard-La Celle-sur-Morin stop. The man took out a knife and placed it at the victim's throat. The woman, terrorized, immediately explained that she was expecting a baby. But the aggressor did not release his grip. He raped her for the first time before dragging her to the toilet. "The rapist took the time to break her cell phone to prevent her from calling," said one source. "He then raped her again several times before arriving at the Gare de l'Est."

The rapist then took another train for Meaux. In shock, the young teacher went to the police post located in the Gare de l'Est. "When he was arrested, he was carrying a knife similar to the one described by the victim, confided a person close to the case. He was also wearing the clothing she described. He was not known to the police."

Unlike the readers of Novopress, those at Le Parisien are anxious to point out that his origins, and the origins of the woman, have nothing to do with it. He's just a criminal, you see. They reiterate that nobody cares that he is Tunisian. One person even deplores that France has not learned the lessons of the past. I assume he means that France is as racist as ever. Well, the poor woman was not a racist. She let him rape her.

There was no word on her physical condition.

Argentina: Grim News

Here is the latest update on the murder of two French girls in Argentina. Please do not read this if you are sensitive or squeamish. It is reported in Novopress, based on Argentinian sources. It is the raw truth, and therefore seems sensationalized. I can only assume these facts have not been exaggerated:

Even though the examining magistrate managed to get an confession from Gustavo Lasi, the suspect incriminated by DNA traces, the investigators feel that the persons implicated in this affair are not yet all behind bars.

According to the police, the suspects belong to an organized gang that specializes in attacking tourists who are numerous in the region of Salta, one of the main destinations for visitors to Argentina during the Southern winter.

The investigators discovered a great number of complaints filed with the local police by tourists who were victims of armed robbers or purse-snatchers. Most of the complaints had no follow-up because the tourists only wanted a receipt for insurance purposes.

The trick used by the criminals was to limit the use of force and to steal only small objects of value, so that the chances of triggering a police response were nil. The crime that the two young women from Europe were victims of changed the rules and forced the police to deploy all available means to find the guilty parties.

The horror of the attack has aroused intense emotions in a country that is nonetheless used to exceptionally cruel criminal acts. The photos of the corpses taken at the medical-legal institute of Salta had a profound effect on the local journalists who reconstructed the events from information gleaned at the door of the judge's chambers and in the corridors frequented by the investigating police.

Having returned from a hunting and fishing expedition, the suspects noticed the young women and decided to attack them on the tour route. But the young women resisted, taking the criminals by surprise, and a sexual aggression was transformed into a carnage.

Heavily drunk from their hunting and fishing expedition, the suspects brutalized the French girls in a horrific crescendo of violence. They beat them many times over, covering their bodies with hematomas.

In a sadistic game, they allowed them to flee through the thorny bushes and even to climb up steep hills, for their knowledge of the terrain and their physical strength left the girls with no chance at all. The nails of one of the victims, Houria, were almost turned inside out from her attempt to flee.

But they didn't stop there. Once they had them on the ground, the assailants broke their legs by kicking them, one of the fractures was open, an irrefutable testimony to the violence of the blows and the desire to make the victims suffer.

Worn out by this cruel game, the torturers finally finished off the girls with weapons used during their hunt.

Argentinian journalists, never stingy with morbid details, added in their articles that the employees at the funeral home who prepared the bodies for their return to France were horrified by the extent of vaginal and anal injuries on the bodies.

Pushing the envelope quite far, El Tribuno, one of the local papers wrote:

"The Muslim woman in charge of washing three times the body of her fellow Muslim stopped her work regularly because of uncontrollable vomiting, crying in desperation."

Note: One of the girls, Houria, was Muslim.

Cold comfort for the families that it was a French-inspired penal procedure that allowed the guilty to be arrested, and a more South American-style management of the secrets resulting from the investigation that allowed the journalists to follow, practically first hand, the progress of the investigation.

Note: I do not entirely understand the last sentence. Details about the two procedures mentioned were not provided. However, it implies that the guilty would not have been arrested without French intervention, and that journalists in Argentina have greater access than we do to the secrets of police investigations.

My previous update contained a comment from a reader who knows the province of Salta. He briefly discusses the possible political implications of this crime.

Dropping the Charges

As you must know by now, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be exonerated of all charges tomorrow (Tuesday), and will be free to return to France, where another trial possibly awaits him, though the French are now saying this is not likely.

The New York Times has a complete review of the events of the case explaining clearly the compelling reasons why District Attorney Cyrus Vance could not prosecute with a reasonable assurance of victory.

So the victor is Strauss-Kahn after all, not because he is innocent, but because his accuser told one lie too many. In fact, a few days ago a medical report on Nafissatou Diallo stated that there was physical evidence of violence, but for the prosecution that is not enough to warrant an accusation of a crime, mainly because of the character failings of the woman.

My only feeling at this time is that if they cannot successfully prosecute Strauss-Kahn, they should immediately put Miss Diallo on trial for perjury, for lying about her past, for being illegally in the United States, for making up a story of a gang rape in Africa, for swindling the taxpayers of New York, for obstructing justice, for wasting everybody's time, and above all for making Dominique Strauss-Kahn into a martyr.

On August 8, lawyers for Diallo filed in civil court for damages and compensation. And there is a rumor (another one!) that as far back as June her lawyers requested of the defense that a civil settlement be negotiated, in exchange for which all charges against DSK would be dropped. Her lawyer Kenneth Thompson denied such a rumor (which was reported in the Wall Street Journal [subscription required], and adapted for French readers by Paris Match).

There is so much online about this story. I happened upon this article from France-Soir about Benjamin Brafman, the lawyer who defended DSK. The headline reads: "Benjamin Brafman, DSK's Savior". The lawyer is credited with the savvy needed to extricate celebrities from sticky situations:

Regarded as one of the most powerful and efficient attorneys in America, Benjamin Brafman is the man to have when you need a defense lawyer, especially when the cards, at first, are stacked against you. A plaintiff who seems to be above reproach at the start? What does it matter! All you have to do is create doubts about her credibility and use this argument to influence the prosecutor. If the medical report proves there really was a sexual relation, it is enough to make the accused say that it was consensual.

Thanks to a few well-executed maneuvers and intensive investigations, Benjamin Brafman and his collaborators have managed to save Dominique Strauss-Kahn's skin. The former minister will no doubt be released on Tuesday at the latest. The man he chose as his lawyer has been a determining factor. Anne Mansouret, whose daughter Tristane Banon filed a suit against DSK for attempted rape, had this to say about the leader of the New York Bar: "I can see that a guy accused of something, of which he declares himself 100% innocent, goes looking for the most expensive and most crooked lawyer in the United States. Why?" Hers is a clear unequivocal judgment.

Benjamin Brafman's reputation precedes him. His fees vary from half a million to a million dollars. Enormous sums that are explained by the numerous victories he has won. In 1999, he succeeded in saving rapper Jay-Z from prison. The hip-hop star risked receiving a sentence of up to fifteen years for stabbing a record producer twice with a knife. He got off with three years probation. A New York judge declared: "Brafman can pull a rabbit out of a hat. He has this ability to convince you to follow him wherever he goes! He certainly has incredible talent. In the end, you cannot help but like him."

On the face of it, the DSK affair comes down to a new success for Benjamin Brafman.

Here are four comments from France-Soir readers.

- Thank you for having revealed that except for the possibility of paying the most expensive and most crooked lawyer, Strauss-Kahn would have been in a very bad position for a long time.

- The truth is that it was Diallo's lies that saved DSK, not Brafman, even though he worked hard. In this life people pay for a lawyer as best they can. With all due respect to those jealous of DSK's fortune...

- All it would take is one fanatic with inflexible ideas who decided that justice was not done and who took things into his own hands. Then, even a bullet-proof vest would not prevent a head from exploding. Beware of the vengeance of the little people when anger is great.

Note: The above warning is a bit reckless. There has not been any threat to him or any indication of a violent act of revenge. However, those who live dangerously often attract trouble, as he did in May in New York. It will be very interesting to see if there are any new accusations once he is back in France, and on the campaign trail, as he well may be. Has he learned a lesson? Of course not, unless it is that money really can buy everything.

One more:

- The medical report is not enough. The prosecutor did say that there had been a sexual relation. That was predictable. Well, now he has recovered his virginity and will return to France, all new, with his victory smile. And Nafi has been betrayed by the courts that based its verdict on her lies when she arrived in America and afterwards. But this does not mean that she lied about the attack. It's such a murky tale. The powerful always emerge victorious, it's true and it's disgusting. At his age he may calm down somewhat, but it's true he doesn't need viagra, despite his old age.

Note: He's not that old - 62.

Below Nafissatou Diallo amidst reporters and onlookers on Monday.

Paris Celebrates Ramadan

Riposte Laïque has a flood of articles about ramadan and mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë's invitation (above) to Parisians to gather at City Hall on August 24 for the breaking of the fast. The following article by RL contributor Martine Chapouton focuses on the formal protest issued by Jacques Myard, mayor of Maisons-Laffitte (northwest of Paris) and UMP deputy in the National Assembly, against Delanoë's blatantly illegal act:

At last an elected official of the Republic emerges from his summer sleep to defend laïcité! We are not surprised that it is Jacques Myard. In 2006, he was the first one to propose a law against the burka in France, and today he is co-president of the committee on laïcité in the National Assembly. (…)

The article then prints the letter (written in the third person singular) that Myard sent to Interior Minister Claude Guéant:

Jacques Myard is scandalized by the initiative of the mayor of Paris who, backed by a publicity campaign, has invited Parisians to a great "ramadan soirée" in the salons of City Hall this August 24.

The invitation stipulates explicitly that a light Iftar - or breaking of the fast - will be served at sunset!

This invitation, sent explicitly in accordance with a religious ritual, is totally contrary to the principle of laïcité that requires religious practices to be exercised in the private sphere of each citizen. Furthermore, this type of initiative can only offend all republicans who do not wish to be involved in the religion of others. It can only provoke tensions and quarrels within our society. It is aimed solely at winning religious voters in total violation of republican principles - our guarantor for living together beyond all religions.

Jacques Myard, co-president of the committee on laïcité in the National Assembly asks all republicans to mobilize against this inadmissible initiative.

He refers this grave violation of republican principles to the Interior Minister, and asks that he restore the laws of the Republic in the Paris City Hall.

An interview between Jacques Myard and Pierre Cassen of Riposte Laïque sheds more light on the mayor's position and on Myard's shock at the invitation:

- RL: Why did you have such a reaction?

- JM: I was quite simply aghast that an elected official of the Republic would send out an invitation of this type as if he were a religious man, an imam. It's quite simply unbelievable and above all dangerous. Where will this stop?

- RL: But the mayor of Paris affirms that this ceremony is not at all religious, and he points out that the City of Paris, every year, welcomes or organizes other ceremonies of this type, such as Chanukah, Vesak, Saint Maroun, the Chinese New Year, the Berber New Year, or the Christmas tree, without ever arousing the slightest reaction. What do you think of his arguments?

- JM: They are not arguments, but proof of his desire to create confusion. Let's take the case of Christmas, it's a religious holiday for Christians with the birth of Jesus, BUT it is above all a traditional popular holiday. In the Gallic language, Noël means the new light that corresponds to the winter solstice. It's a holiday on the secular calendar. Moreover, no mayor ever sent out an invitation to the children's Christmas tree festival in the name of the birth of Jesus. The mayor's arguments are totally hypocritical.

Note: Myard's contention that Christmas is "above all" a secular event, is disappointing (and is he not confusing "secular" with "pagan"?). It's true that Christmas replaced the Saturnalia, but this is not the time to return to pre-Christian rites. It is the time to reaffirm the Christian meaning of Christmas. Laïcité forbids this, but laïcité seems powerless to stop the thrust of Islam into French civilization.

- RL: You asked the Interior Minister to restore the laws of the Republic in City Hall. Are you sure that the mayor's initiative is beyond the boundary of the laws of the Republic, and do you believe that the government, which you support, is ready to act as you would like?

- JM: There can be no doubt that it is a major violation of the principle of laïcité, I am even certain that there are legal precedents. I recall that the mayor's invitation refers directly to Ramadan which is one of the five obligations of Islam and that he expressly mentions the breaking of the fast. What more do you want? To become blind?

Later in the interview Pierre Cassen asks him for his thoughts on Muslim prayers in the streets of the 18th arrondissement and the refusal of Muslim associations to move the prayers to an army barracks offered to them by the government, on grounds it is unworthy of Islam:

- JM: You do not pray in the street. The Muslims can acquire, at a very reasonable rate, places of worship, as do other religions. It is not for the Republic to adapt to such and such a belief, but for the religion to adapt to the laws of the Republic!

While there is much to be said for deputy Myard's effort to condemn the mayor's invitation, he fails to realize that the law of 1905 creating "laïcité", or the separation of Church and State, was only intended for the Catholic Church. The other religions that existed in France at the time were too small to cause a problem. In 1905 no one anticipated millions of Muslims would enter the country. Nor does he realize that the law of 1905 has been violated so many times, it hardly matters what Delanoë does at this point. And since Jacques Myard is of the UMP party, and works with Nicolas Sarkozy, it is surprising, in a way, that he was "aghast" at the mayor's action.

The problem of the Islamization of France will not be solved until it is acknowledged that the 1905 law is no longer in effect, de facto if not de jure. Until it is rewritten in such a way that Islam and any other conquering totalitarian ideology posing as a Western-compatible religion are barred from the Republic, a large majority of French people will continue to mistakenly regard Islamization as an uncomfortable but necessary condition required by the laws of the Republic.

This is the fatal misunderstanding that is strangling the Western countries: the belief that what is happening is inevitable, and that we just have to put up with it, otherwise we are racists of some sort (and there are many sorts of racists, as we know).

Now here is a short item from François Desouche, describing the "musical exchanges" that will liven up the evening of August 24:

After the buffet that will mark the breaking of the fast, the singer Abir Nasraoui and her ensemble will present the first concert of the evening. A Tunisian musicologist, Abit Nasraoui expresses the immense vocal richness of the Arab classical tradition.

The second part of the evening will be devoted to Djerba International, a group of musicians from different horizons. Remarkably well served by the voice of Mounir Troudi, Djerba International mixes funk, jazz, rock, groove and zouk to create new sounds.

An evening of festivities and sharing awaits you!

The interesting thing is how far removed from religion this ramadan soirée is, and how the Muslims themselves have no objections. The mayor of Paris is cleverly convincing Parisians that ramadan is all about fun, open to all, sort of like a block party. We are being told that we are very wrong (and very racist) not to see that Muslims and their ramadan are no different from our own festivals, church picnics, and pop concerts.

But remember when Riposte Laïque attempted to hold an outdoor "apéro" - a party with sausage and wine - and were banned from the 18th arrondissement of Paris because the Muslims would be offended? They had to move their party to the Champs-Elysées. And they have had to face protests from Muslim associations ever since, whenever they attempt to hold a gathering.

Writer Renaud Camus, in a critique of the mayor's initiative, adds:

(We) cannot help but notice the consistency with which the Paris City Hall organizes and conducts its crusade, trying to rid major dates in the history of France from all memory and replacing them henceforth with demonstrations that celebrate the values of the "new French" and the "new France". This is with a complete disregard for the people of France and her history which the City of Paris is supposed to represent. Here is a confirmation, as if one were needed, of the meaning of the "concert for Equality" organized last July 14, that hammered home to us a little bit more the revolting slogan of discrimination and exclusion: "France is us". We are justified in fearing that Montesquieu's famous line "It is Paris that is making the French people" is only too true.

Argentina - Update

Here is an update on the murder of the two French girls in Argentina. I mentioned in the comment section of my initial post that six people had been arrested, including a policeman, his wife and father-in-law, and that the weapon had been retrieved. Now Novopress reports some macabre facts:

For the majority of French journalists, the affair of the two French tourists, whose bodies were found in a hidden area of la Quebrada de San Lorenzo last July 29, was definitively resolved and the culprits locked up.

And yet, some questions remain unanswered and are preventing the investigation from closing and the culprits from being prosecuted.

For example, the projectiles found at the scene of the crime and the one extracted from the skull of Cassandre Bouvier. It came from a 22-caliber Bataan rifle that belonged to Walter Lasi, father of one of the suspects.

But they found on the crime scene two bullets of the same caliber though not from the same gun and a third bullet of a higher caliber. These discoveries, that created confusion in the judges chambers, elicited an ironic remark from one of the investigators:

"Either we are missing some weapons, or we have too many bullets."

The article then explains that they learned that one of the suspects, Raul Sarmiento, who had a history of sexual crimes, owned three firearms. They immediately seized the weapons to determine if they could have been used in the crime.

Another major unanswered question concerns the bodies of the two unfortunate victims. The first autopsy concluded that death occurred between July 26 and 27. Another medical report, based on the insects found in and on the bodies, suggested instead that they died between July 15 and 16. How can one reconcile these dates with the absence of signs of predatory animals?

This point greatly troubles the investigators. A member of the team of investigators suggested that a corpse or a quarter of beef be placed at the same spot to test the impact of predators.

The bodies of the two young women had numerous cuts and wounds as a result of the violence of the attack, and the blood shed by the poor girls before they died would have aroused the predators' sense of smell.

The article concludes by saying that forensic evidence is anxiously awaited by the investigators, including DNA samples that were taken from the bodies and from the suspects arrested.

Then a little slap at the United States:

It is evident that only in the mystery stories "made in the U.S.A." are test results available the same day they are removed from the bodies.

Socialism and Urban Violence

Riposte Laïque, the website of a group of French leftists whose eyes were opened to the dangers of massive immigration and Islamization, has done a good job of reporting on the riots in England. Here, one contributor, Roger Heurtebise, takes on journalist Christophe Barbier point by point. Barbier, editor-in-chief of l'Express, a left-leaning weekly journal, made a short video (above) in which he reveals that he is suffering from amnesia. The nice thing about having amnesia is that you don't know you have it, so in all sincerity and innocence he hopes France never has to face riots like those in England.

In italics are the words of Christophe Barbier, followed by the replies of Roger Heurtebise:

- Who can be sure that the riots, which at this very moment, are ravaging London and its surroundings, could not happen in France, notably in the neighborhoods of Ile-de-France that no urban reforms have succeeded in rescuing from the shadows?

- As I said, Christophe Barbier has forgotten 2005 and everything else…

- We are not exempt from it because we have the same non-integrated youth, the same unemployed youth, the same youth that are victims of the crisis.

- And there we have the first semantic hoax bordering on the social excuse. It has escaped no one in London in 2011, as in the Parisian suburbs in 2005, that the rioters came mainly from the mass of North African and sub-Saharan immigration. They are the ones who are "not integrated", while "unemployment" and the "crisis" affect many ethnic Frenchmen (or ethnic Englishmen) or ethnic European immigrants, from la Creuse to Liverpool, but they are not about to turn their cities into blood and flames.

- Nothing can shield us from such incidents. Wait, there is a difference. The English communitarianism that created areas that are even more ghetto than our own ghettos, does not exist in France.

- Not much it doesn't... Do you take us for fools? We know the lawless zones, (where the Mafia and Islam make the law) in some 1000 "Sensitive Urban Zones" throughout France… and even elsewhere.

- We have conserved the ideal of the republican melting pot, the ideal of integration. I said "the ideal" because we have not preserved the reality. We are incapable of ensuring a future of integration, of ensuring that the social ladder will be available to these young immigrants.

- Ah! Finally Christophe Barbier cites the "young immigrants", admitting that the problem is partially specific to them. But he hammers away with the "we", meaning that it is "our" fault, we, the French people, and not the fault of our politicians or of the immigrant populations. We find ourselves back to the notion of self-hatred, so frequent in official discourse, which is an open door to even more demands and violence on the part of these "young immigrants". Christophe Barbier takes the blame for us. We will not follow him on this path.

- During the next presidential campaign, we must speak, we must find new solutions. It would probably be best to monitor immigration, all kinds of immigration. Illegal, of course, but also economic immigration. We probably also need new regulations on family reunification.

- That is the most courageous statement in his report… except that instead of saying "it would probably be best", he should have said "it probably would have been best" or "we probably should have". These tardy regrets can hardly excuse thirty years of laxness both on the Right and the Left… that l'Express did not denounce. It isn't too late to do some good, but still one has to make honorable amends for one's past errors.

- But we must first ensure an economic future for all young people, they must all have jobs. Even if we have to start with public jobs, and jobs created by local collectivities, before placing them in the normal economy.

Note: I like his reference to the "normal economy", which seems to imply that public welfare is "abnormal". But a welfare program for the French people who earned it is one thing, and a system of generous hand-outs to anyone who strides across the border with impunity is something else.

- Once again he returns to the social excuse of the farcical Left. So, we should create fictitious jobs paid for by the taxpayer in order to keep the "young people busy" at games or non-productive ethnic-centered activities? And Christophe Barbier is totally wrong to think that employment - with or without assistance - will solve the problems of communitarianism and non-integration. One has only to re-read the Denécé Report, or the story of a veiled woman working in a government program, paid for with our taxes.

Note: The Denécé Report revealed the powerful growth of Islam in the world of French businesses. It was a counterpart to the Obin report that described the impact of Islam on the French school system. Both reports were carefully hidden by the French government. The veiled woman in question was a volunteer in what the French call "service civique", a type of social program similar to our Americorps VISTA.

- No job, no integration. No integration, no assurance that there will not be any riots soon in France.

- We've come full circle. All we have to do is give the young vandals a job (even a fictitious one) and everything will be OK. As if the vandals want to work!

No, Christophe Barbier, the problem is cultural. I have worked with Muslims and Africans, in France and abroad. They are excellent workers and managers… as far as the work is concerned (because social work is not rigorous…). The results of their work were irreproachable and they worked very hard. But the fact remains that they were still attached to cultures and life styles incompatible with my own, and probably with yours.

And in the case of the rioters in France in 2005 and in England in 2011, we have no inkling of a desire to integrate into the workplace.

Just a little more effort, Christophe Barbier, so that we can be grateful to you for abandoning official thought.

As Roger Heurtebise shows that culture, not economics is at the root of urban violence, a right-wing Israeli website Samson Blinded points out the harm done by a generous welfare State. I believe that what he says applies to France and other countries as well:

After barely suppressing this week’s urban riots, the British government is working on rescinding some of the austerity measures it introduced in the wake of the economic collapse of its quasi-socialist economy.

In the politically correct world, the riots are being blamed on economic hardship. Nonsense. Dirt-poor Jews in Eastern Europe did not riot in the nineteenth century. Poor Jews in present-day Israel do not set up tent camps—but relatively affluent leftists do.

Which answers the question of what caused the British riots. The immigrants are suddenly affluent compared to their previous standard of living. They do not have to work for living, but are content with subsidies. They have plenty of leisure time. Combine that with youthful radicalism and the lack of liberal traditions in their ethnic and religious cultures, which creates a feeling of impunity—and you have riots.

But instead of admitting that those immigrants are a culturally foreign element, that they are economic spongers who have to be repressed or evicted, the government contemplates more subsidies for them—which will only whet their appetites.

Note: In other words, if a particular form of Socialism is the cause of the riots, then that Socialism cannot be the cure.

Ramadan and Lent - No Comparison

In French colloquial speech the expression "faire son ramdam", which derives from "ramadan", means to have a shindig or to make a racket. The expression appeared after the French colonized the Maghreb and refers to the loud noise that accompanied the nightly breaking of the ramadan fast. It can also refer to sexual relations with prostitutes, and was used in that way by soldiers during WWI.

The month of August is the month of ramadan this year. For the French ruling elite it is a national holiday and a time for celebrating diversity and multiculturalism, a time for discarding worn out notions of patriotism and national pride, a time for re-interpreting the 1905 law separating Church and State, and a time for blanking out on France's Christian heritage. But for millions of Frenchmen it is one more jarring example of the gulf that separates them from their leaders.

In #137 of his weekly newsletter Yves Daoudal explains why ramadan cannot be compared to Lent:

On August 1 there were no fewer than four articles about ramadan in… La Croix (a Catholic journal). And at the internet site Le Progrès, under religion, nine articles out of ten were devoted to ramadan. For several years now ramadan has been a major event in France. At least in the world of the media and paramedia. By paramedia I mean those who live in the orbit of the media and who believe that that virtual world is the real world. Among them, a part of the clergy and even some bishops.

This world of the media and paramedia has totally assimilated the code of dhimmitude. In a Muslim country, in order not to have headaches, minority communities must congratulate the Muslims and show great sympathy towards them in this period of self-denial and prayer. In France, Muslims are still very much in the minority, but the media and paramedia act as if they were the majority. "When France Celebrates Ramadan" was the headline at Libération, in huge letters, last year.

The media and paramedia, i.e., the ruling caste, openly promotes Islam, while the overwhelming majority of that caste rejects all religion. These are the same people who find the Catholic rites old-fashioned, but who find ramadan just great.

But the last straw is when the bishops get into the act. Bishops who have never in their lives observed Lent and who congratulate the Muslims on their ramadan.

Note: I'm surprised. Are there bishops who have never observed Lent?

The situation would be comical if it weren't so sad. The Latin Church long ago abandoned the obligation of the Lenten fast, and the new liturgy did away with the sermons that spoke of it (these were most of the sermons, and there are two of them per day), even though the fast is a commandment of Christ and a necessity for spiritual life, as all the saints know. Today we see that the Lenten fast is back in style in certain sectors of the Church, but disconnected from the liturgical year, which is an absurdity.

Ramadan is not only a bad copy of Lent, it is a perversion of Lent (just as many pages of the Koran are a perversion of the Bible, etc…) The symbolism of the Lenten fast is, notably, the purification of the soul through a reduction of food for the body (because a fast purifies the body). But ramadan is the opposite. If you fast during the day, in the evening you pig out (and you spend the day digesting). In Muslim countries, food consumption increases by 30% during ramadan. (This is why all the supermarket chains have special sections for ramadan. If Lent were observed for forty days by Catholics, there would be no special sections for the very good reason that Lent is a real privation). The orgy of eating is such that hospitals are besieged by patients who show the whole gamut of pathologies linked to the overeating of fats, sugars, etc…, from simple indigestion to heart attacks. And there are special television programs that ask people to be moderate and to provide recipes for lighter meals. In this time of dictatorship over our health, ramadan should be forbidden…

Rules on abstinence and fasting in the Roman Catholic Church are rather complex, as this Wikipedia page shows.

At the top, the table is set for iftar, the ramadan meal that begins at sunset. But besides the evening meal there is a pre-dawn meal called suhoor. So ramadan is not a fast at all. Two meals are eaten, in a 24-hour period, which is not far from normal. And the evening meal is often copious, sometimes extending into the night.

The painting below by Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicts the Fight between Carnival and Lent. At Olga's Gallery there's the following explanation:

This painting takes as its subject the traditional annual carnival, which was held in Flanders in the week before lent. A half-religious, half-secular festival, it provided an excuse for excesses of drinking and sex: contemporary moralists condemned it as the devil’s week.
1559.

Oil on panel. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.


And contemporary moralists today condemn anyone who condemns the presence of Islam in France or the gluttony of the nightly feast of iftar.

There's a more detailed analysis of Bruegel's painting at this Wikipedia page.

Enoch Powell and the Consequences

You have probably already viewed this series of four videos (in English with French subtitles). They are worth a return visit.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4