A Small Tour

Classical music is making a comeback in China



Bilingual Education Posted by Iftikhar on 12:05:37 2005/05/11 via Canadian Coalition Forum

[. . . . ] In my opinion teaching English is cultural imperialism in action.

[. . . . Muslim pupils ] become jack of languages but master of none and there is a possibility that a minority develops negative attitudes towards languages.

Bilingual education is not going to help Muslim children to raise their standard of education because native teachers are not suitable and the management of LEAs is in the hands of those who not fit for such adventures.

[. . . . ] State schools are unable to cater for the emotional, social and spiritual development of Muslim children. Parents can withdraw their children from assembly but only a small minority does in the culturally mixed London Borough of Newham; only five children are exempted in 2001-2002.

The silent majority of Muslim community has been engaged in setting up Muslim schools with Muslim teachers as role models. Now there are more than 120 schools and more are in the pipeline, four of them are state funded while others have to charge fees. The waiting lists are lengthy. There are thousands of parents who can't afford to pay but they would like their children to attend Muslim schools. There should be an alternative and British Government should be thinking seriously about introducing Voucher System so that parents can choose where to send their children. DFES and LEAs should provide financial help to set up schools. [. . . . ]

Coming to an area near you . . . So much for the building of a nation, part of the original mandate of public education in Canada, as well as in Great Britain. Now, everywhere, immigrants and refugees come and expect to change the nation to their ways. Don't miss the follow-ups and other threads.




Might the Saudis Blow Up Their Oil Infrastructure?

Might the Saudis Blow Up Their Oil Infrastructure? or Daniel Pipes FrontPageMagazine.com, May 11, 2005

Investigative writer Gerald Posner reveals something most extraordinary in Secrets of the Kingdom: The Inside Story of the Saudi-U.S. Connection, his book to be published by Random House later this month: that the Saudi government may have rigged its oil and gas infrastructure with a self-destruct system that would keep it out of commission for decades. If true, this could undermine the world economy at any time.

[. . . . ] The Saudi planning began in earnest, he reports, after the Kuwait war of 1990-91, when the Iraqis left behind an inferno of oil-field fires … which, to everyone's amazement, was extinguished within months, not years. In response, the Saudis thought of ways to assure their oil would stay off the market. They began

exploring the possibility of a single-button self-destruct system, protected with a series of built-in fail-safes. It was evidently their way to ensure that if someone else grabbed the world's largest oil reserves and forced them to flee the country they had founded, the House of Saud could at least make certain that what they left behind was worthless.

This became a top-priority project for the kingdom. Posner provides considerable detail about the mechanics of the sabotage system, [. . . . ]

Al-Qaeda's gloves are off in Pakistan May 10, 2005, By Syed Saleem Shahzad

In the past 10 years, an estimated 600,000 people are believed to have been involved with jihadi groups in the country, but most of them disassociated themselves from these organizations after September 11, 2001, due to government pressures or other reasons. Now, only 50,000 are believed to be active members of militant organizations. [. . . . ]

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