Phanari

Last Friday morning the traditional neoclassical building, today the Cultural Center of the University of Indianapolis - an architectonic jewel in the traditional old town of Athens at the foot of the Acropolis mountain - was the scenic theatre of the presentation of a book with the skin crawling title "The Coming Balkan Caliphate", written by the American author Christopher Deliso.

Deliso is director of Balkanalysis.com, a leading independent online news and analysis group.

The site utilizes a growing corps of writers and researchers from regional countries as well as from elsewhere in Europe and the United States. Amongst those Ioannis Michaletos, the intelligence blogger and Junior Analyst at Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS) who has kindly provided this blog with unique background information on this summer's devastating wild fires, which - in all probability - were part of a pyro terrorism campaign against the Greek state, for which seventy people have been arrested, twenty of whom are described as 'foreigners'.

Deliso has lived and traveled widely in southeastern Europe and has a master's degree with distinction in Byzantine Studies from Oxford University (1999). Since 2001, he has published many articles on Balkan politics, economics, security issues, travel, history and culture in US and world newspapers, analysis firms such as the Economist Intelligence Unit, and in numerous magazines and websites.

The Balkans (link provides an excellent UN map) is the gateway between East and West, and historically Europe's soft underbelly. Presently organized crime and terrorism present a constant threat. Chris Deliso's eye-opening book details how fifteen years of misguided Western interventions, political scheming, and local mafia appeasement, compounded by a massive infusion of Arab cash, fundamentalist Islamic preaching and Wahhabi mosque building, have allowed radical Islamic groups to fill in the cracks between internal ethnic and religious schisms, and take root in key areas of the Balkans.

Deliso clarifies the situation as follows.

- Bosnia - During the 1990 Yugoslav conflict the Western powers conspired to allow Arab (Saudi, Wahhabi) mujaheddin, surplus of the Afghan resistance against Soviet occupation, to enter the territory as an easy way to counter the Serb attempts to keep the federation of Yugoslavia together, while countering internal Muslim harassment of local Christian populations.

Since the blow-backof this policy has become apparent, the US is pushing Bosnia to expel the radicals who've set up shop in the region. Belatedly, as by now they have gone underground. The present situation is said to be fluid.

There are however direct links between the Islamic radicals who were imported into Bosnia as a consequence of said Western policy, and the attacks of 9/11, the Madrid train bombings and the London attacks.

Another Bosnian connection that surfaced not so long ago was the foiled attempt on US Fort Dix and, just last week the scantly publicised matter of a Bosnian arrested in Vienna, Austria for a thwarted attack on the US Embassy in that city.

- Albania - Already historically a breading ground for lawlessness, tribalism and backwardness, this isolated rugged territory became a radical Islamist safe haven from the moment the old Stalinist regime fell. The US policy was to strengthen the fledgling democratic government. It is this blog's opinion that personal ties between Albania and the Clintons stem from these early years, as the US political order transited from the Cold War. Deliso: "The United States both cracked down on extremists and allied itself with Islamic leaders in the Tirana government, funding these radicals."

Albania became the scene of an influx of Wahhabi mujaheddin and Al Qaeda elements. Wahhabi mosque building is proliferating as we speak, as is Islamist social engineering: providing unemployed villagers with hand-outs to dress up as fundamentalists in an attempt at creating critical mass for the normalization of radicalism; call it the corrupt Islamist version of political correctness. This method is combined with a form of institutionalised thuggery: extortion, blackmail and intimidation. It is happening not just in Albania, but in all less affluent regions of the Balkans, of which there are many.

Albanian clan structure produces a social situation, ideal for the incubation of organised crime. The connection between terrorism and organised crime is by now well established; it is being monitored and documented by the various intelligence agencies.

- Kosovo - As was the case in Bosnia, Western policy has allowed mujaheddin to establish themselves in the territory, creating the conditions for radicalisation and Wahhabi mosque building. Also here the same pressurizing pattern of social engineering and intimidation emerges. (Tony Blair, rather shortsightedly, specifically encouraged mujaheddin who found themselves on UK territory, to join the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) so as to be rid of them).

Whether Kosovo, under American and European pressure, will become independent or not, is no longer really relevant as radical Islamization is concerned. The question is rather, will the matter of independence get sectarian dimensions or not.

Deliso was kind enough at this point to hand the audience a great scoop: there are Albanian-American radicals in Kosovo who had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attack. They were actively recruiting terrorists for 'the war against America'. The UN was aware of this fact, and did nothing.

Saudis and Pakistanis are making sincere efforts to take over the territory by means of (forced) conversions, proselytizing, charity hand-outs, entrenchment of Islamic banking structures, social engineering, intimidation, etc. Islamist functionaries are parachuted below the radar into minor positions, that are nevertheless of strategic interest. The word that springs to mind, is subversion.

Funds are pouring in. Donors are located in the Middle East, Malaysia and Birmingham (UK). The Islamic Heritage Foundation is another of the great Islamic charities exerting social pressure. The organization is banned in four countries, but is allowed to do their damnedest in the UN administered province of Kosovo.

The Bulgarian region of the Rodopi Mountains, bordering Greece, has pockets of radicalized villages, once again the result of Islamist import and social pressure, through charity, hand-outs, and intimidation.

There are tensions as a result of Christian versus Islamic animosity, but there's also competition over Saudi versus Turkish Islamic influence in the region.

While most Muslims - in the Balkans, or anywhere else - aren't fanatics at all, it must be stated that they profit from the situation in the sense that extremism offers them an opportunity to present themselves as the viable, reasonable alternative. Once in key positions, the moderates are threatened, intimidated and bullied into a more radical attitude. Their Islamist enforcers often take the shape of mafia style thugs.

- Intelligence failures - There has been a marked lack of intelligence sharing between countries, as well as between national or federal agencies. This has assisted in creating the current situation to a large extent. Various intelligence agencies per country are competing and fighting out turf wars over competence and jurisdiction. Given the EU's multinational dimensions this competition is even worse in Europe than it is in America. Terrorist groups of course have no such impediments.

The policies on Kosovo and Bosnia have assisted the nesting of foreign radical elements. The UN administration of Kosovo is inhabited by career diplomats whose attitude is to sit it out while pondering the next prestigious career move. Their motto consequently is "don't rock the boat", coupled with a mind set that prefers sweeping dirt under the carpet. Whistle-blowers are known to be stonewalled. There's high level corruption.


At this point Deliso voices concern over the US government's infiltration by spooks to an extent that is alarming. He also mentions there was a second failed attempt on Pope John Paul II's life, which is rarely publicised. I think I saw it reported once, but took it for a mistake. (Google produces no hits at all).

The threat of terrorism is also changing shape: an innovation are the so-called 'white devils', Caucasian converts who escape racial profiling. I think I predicted in these pages somewhere that this will likely be the face of terrorism in the future: a sort of Islamic Bader Meinhoff, just as fanatical, deluded, and radical Marxist as the Cold War set up.

Computer hacking is assisting terrorism by 'remote control', for example attacks on essential installations, such as power grids. The spate of pyro terrorism waltzing through Greece this summer may have been ignited 'remotely' by cell phones. Also in Greece some attacks were perilously close to power grids.

More attacks than we realise are being thwarted.

How's this for a coincidence ... on the morning that the former President Clinton is arriving in Athens to consult the local Socialist Party out of the crisis it finds itself in since losing the general elections - they cannot figure out how they lost it - Deliso is filling us in on some details of the Clinton legacy: "The Coming Balkan Caliphate".

Deliso stresses that he has spoken with high level US officials who have made plain that the 1990s failed policies were conscious decisions. The election of Hillary Rodham Clinton would in all probability bring back the same politicians who signed for the flawed policies of which we only now are experiencing the dire results: Wesley Clark, Madeleine Albright, Richard Holbrooke, to name but a few.

The questionable method of rendition that got the Bush government into trouble, was first used in 1995 in Albania during the early Clinton years. Ray Robison commenting on a Front Page Magazine article by Julia Gorin, "Kosovo  The Epicenter of Islamofascism?" writes on this matter:

"... There are Islamic extremists in Kosovo. There have been for years as evidenced by the Clinton Administration's germination of a controversial policy called "rendition". It was in Bosnia and Kosovo that the rendition of Islamic terrorists to nations like Egypt - which would obviously employ torture and in some cases murderous interrogation methods - began. The reason the U.S. rendition policy became necessary is because the Islamic terrorists were not from Kosovo. They were sent back to Egypt in most cases because they were Egyptians. Now an argument can be made that these Arab jihadists, veterans of the Afghan mujahideen were supported locally by some Albanian Islamic extremists."

The US, having currently concentrated their efforts on the Middle East and Afghanistan, have an intelligence deficiency in the region. In the past the US have outsourced information gathering to Ukrainian and Romanian agencies, but stopped doing so when a inordinate amount of disinformation ensued.

- Greece - Greece has of course always objected to the failed Western policies in the Balkans, but was forced to go along with more powerful allies. Foreign policy instead was concentrated on the minor issues, such as the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), or Skopje, on which matter Turkey seems to be very well informed.

Also in Skopje enclaves have been created that are virtual no-go areas for Westerners: ideal safe havens for terrorists and radicals.

Greece should identify and correct the intelligence hiatus. If more information would be available to combat the War on Terrorism, Greece would become a more valuable partner.

What stood out - and this is effectively the reason why Greece in the West is almost a white elephant - was Deliso's underlining specifically that the Greek governments, as well as the Orthodox Church 'have not allowed' and have 'prevented' Islamic radicals from establishing themselves in the country. The habitual means of establishment is through charity organizations.

But what Greece and the Greek Orthodox Church can achieve, can also be done by other countries! All we know is, that they haven't. Was that the result of active, but inapt policies as described here by Deliso, or a lack of political will? Or are we perhaps scratching the surface here of the very purposeful Eurabia doctrineas presented by author Bat Ye'or, of which we are to witness the latest instalment during the forthcoming Arab-European Dialogue on Human Rights and Terrorism, taking place in Copenhagen on 21-23 October?

This seems to be a good moment to go on record that a family member who worked for an intelligence service in the past, once disclosed that the Cold War ended at a good time, as resources would now become available for monitoring radical Islamist elements. This means that in government circles in 1990 there was known to be a threat from that area. Today it is widely forgotton that the problems didn't start on 9/11, 2001.

While many Western countries have severed their historical ties and suppressed national consciousness for ideological reasons, Greece is still a very free, traditional, Christian country, enjoying their historical roots and national identity and all that entails. While Western Europe is wallowing in decadence, and realing from its self-induced uprootedness, Greece is developing the first affluent middle class.

Deliso: "Many countries in the West, for example Germany and the UK, are in trouble through their multicultural policies." Greece on the other hand is still recovering from the historical black hole that was the blessing of being part of the Ottoman Empire. There are people alive today who remember, and there are those who know because their (grand)parents told them. Greece will have to be force-fed by the EU on multiculturalism, will it ever become a politically correct nation.

Deliso travels through the area extensively and has concluded, there are quite a few Western exiles who have found a home in the Balkans as well, the undersigned one of them. It would seem everybody is more or less adrift these days.

Finally, I'd like to remind the readership that the petition against the independence of the Serb province of Kosovo-Metohija, which would enhance the chances of the Balkan Caliphate even further, can be signed here.

Copyright © 2006-7 The Lighthouse

In some political circles it is said that it is especially during silly season - when the attention span under the combined pressures of sand, sea and sun is at its lowest - that the highest state of alert is required: it is then when the dangers of irreversible, accomplished facts on the ground, are at their highest. So, despite the low ebb there are a few noteworthy news items circulating.

- SIOE 9/11 Update:

The mayor of Brussels has declined to give his blessings to the "Stop Islamization of Europe" demo planned for 9/11 on the grounds that "public safety cannot be guaranteed". I think this poses a serious problem. It lays bare to what extent the enlightened dictatorship in the European Union has progressed. Obviously, the prospects of security conditions for the rally getting any better by themselves in the foreseeable future, are negligible.

This means that the civil rights of a large chunk of citizens will have to be suspended indeterminately. This is clearly unacceptable. I do hope the SIOE organization will stay in touch with the Brussels authorities and press on to them that civil rights cannot be suspended forever. Perhaps the mayor can offer a counter proposition?

Update: I just had the opportunity to read some of the comments on the SIOE site. Although no pleasure, it's an education! The combined forces of Radical Islam and the scions of the collective Counter-Enlightenment have already established entire Sharia enclaves. The question is: how many more? Why do free citizens use the term 'haram'? Think about it ...

Update on the update: The Petition in favour of the rally, addressed to the mayor of Brussels, can be signed here. I request anybody who's sympathetic to its cause to sign it - no matter how remote you are from Brussels (physically I'm some 3000 kilometers removed, but mentally the distance can only be measured in lightyears).

- Kosovo Update:

"The great powers are set to kick-start a new set of talks on Kosovo's future on Friday, though with dim prospects of a solution acceptable to both Serbs and Kosovo Albanians. The Contact Group of the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy is sending a trio of diplomats - American Frank Wisner, Russian Alexandar Botsan-Kharchenko and German Wolfgang Ischingert, representing the EU - to do the mediating." >>>

"Serbia is ready to grant broad autonomy to Kosovo, but only if the province remains under Serbian sovereignty, the president of a parliamentary commission said Monday. Dusan Prorokovic, head of the commission for Kosovo and Metohija, made the statement ahead of a Contact Group meeting in Belgrade for preliminary consultations Thursday." >>>

"Kosovo warned on Wednesday of rising Albanian tension and eventual street protests, on the eve of fresh talks ... Senior ethnic Albanian political leader Veton Surroi said the patience of Kosovo's ninety percent Albanian majority was not "limitless," and protests "could not be excluded" if independence is delayed much longer." >>>

Copyright © 2006-7 The Lighthouse

Today more fascinating old and new current affairs items.

- The irrationality of the Palestinians is sometimes of breathtaking proportions:

PALESTINIANS BACK IRAN BOMB
New poll shows Palestinians are number one supporters of Iran nuclear weapons
"Of 37 populations around the world, Palestinians rank first in their level of support for a nuclear-armed Iran, a new poll has revealed. The survey, taken by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, found that 58 percent of the Palestinian public are in favor of Tehran acquiring atomic weapons, making Palestinians the only Middle Eastern population not opposed to an Iranian bomb."

Do they really believe, that if the Scampy Satrap launches a nuclear attack on Israel (God forbid), the West Bank and Gaza'd remain unaffected by it? Truth is, that a multitude of sacrifices is just part of the Satrap's apocalyptic doctrine; If the survey was conducted in that awareness, is unknown. Here's more analysis on the Savvy Satrap's little science project.

- Defense of Democracies has another in-depth article on the Kosovo question: "The Moral Hazard of Kosovo's Independence" by J. Peter Pham.

- On 20th June we posted "Science as Liberal Ideology and a Puzzle Contest" on the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly's draft resolution on the dangers of creationism in education. Well, here's the good news on Europe: thanks to a few east Europeans who haven't yet been relativised out of existence, as well as due to some Christian Democrats with the pangs of the conscience, the vote never even got off the ground!

The Press from Hell on the whole never even reported the Darwinic bummer, but here's Reuters in a topspin headline: "European rights body calls off creationism vote", being echoed by a sole blogger in "Creationism vote canceled by Council and Europe's Parliamentary Assembly", proving that lack of a scientific attitude doesn't necessarily has to stand in the way of self-development and personal growth.

- For the aficionado who knows how to appreciate the European post-democratic Press from Hell, EUX is commenting that any insouciance in respect of the acceptance of the new proposal for the reform treaty (the erstwhile EU Constitution), is as yet premature ... you know ... there is still the "Risk of Dutch EU referendum": no further comments, except to say we seem to have a political version here of "fog over channel, continent cut off".

- Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission yesterday confessed to the press what others like myself have known for some time, which is why I almost consider this a personal victory! Barosso together with Vice-President Margot 'make-love-not-war' Wallstrom (Let's Come Together) asked by the press what the European Union would be after the new reform treaty has been agreed (and the risk of a Dutch referendum averted), answered: "Europe is an empire, a non-imperial one, must be said. But still, an empire." ... with which video exhibit I rest my case ....

- And if that wasn't enough imperialism for one day, the Ottomans are also experiencing bouts of nostalgia! EUX for the last time: "FEATURE: From Turkey's dreams of empire to the energy Great Game".

It was again an eventful day in the Eurabic Empire of Voluntarily Interconnected States!

Today a necessary news update, building on recent earlier posts:

With respect to yesterday's post "Counter-Terrorist Blog Swarm Wanted!" Ioannis Michaletos of Strategic Analysis relays an article "Kosovo is Spiralling out of Control" by Mikhail Logvinov. It lays bare a few intricacies in the matter begging closer scrutiny.

- For example: "... if Russia rejects the Kosovo independence plan, Brussels will assume responsibility and make an appropriate decision", in favour of independence, we may assume. On the other hand, according to a spokeswoman for European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana "the EU will make a decision if need be, but only with the UN Security Council's consent" of which Russia happens to be a veto carrying member. It may be the author who's caught in a circular argument, or it may be the E.U. that has now finally lost its way!


- It seriously beggars belief that Moscow's "(t)rying to prevent the partition of its long-time Slavic ally" is termed "a dubious decision from the viewpoint of international law"! Since when has the encouragement of partition become the politically correct? Since the advent of Transnational Progessivism perhaps? Has the breaking up of sovereign states, to be forcibly incorporated into post-democratic, totalitarian federations already become the official international policy? I would certainly hope that "(t)hose countries whose territorial integrity is threatened are against the current European trend" of the breaking up of sovereign, national states.

- At least 'the West' is not caught unawares of the dangerous consequences of their actions, as they have been "discussing crisis scenarios that should give a legal seal to tough actions against Belgrade". Go ahead, pile it on!

- The article further points out that "Kosovar and Serbian organized crime planned" the 2004 ethnic clashes between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo. It would appear that, apart from the Wahhabis - it is primarily the mob that would greatly benefit from Kosovo's independence, courtesy of 'the West'.

Here's more from the intrepid Julia Gorin. So far the news from the Eastern front.
Yankee Wombat, an American in Oz recently had two pieces from a surprising perspective.


- His post "The Quick and the Dead" concerns Michael Yon's fabulous independent journalism in Iraq and his recent shocking article "Bless the Beasts and Children", describing and illustrating the horrific way in which Muslims are killing Muslims. Yankee Wombat answers the matter which I registered from the sidelines over the weekend, how this story of whole-sale slaughter broke in the MSM, and was almost immediately denied by same.

- In another post "Eurabia and Delusions of Grandeur" Yankee Wombat reviews Bat Ye'Or's book Eurabia and comments upon what he sees as "the conceit of the Europeans - they were confident that their culture would absorb the Muslims ... Europe fancied itself as the senior partner in this process set to absorb the Mediterranean lands of Africa and Asia into its orbit ..."

Now that a few million Muslims find themselves on the European continent, these prove to be a great deal more assertive in defending their cultural and religious heritage than (post)modern Europeans are wont to do. Now that culture clashes and displacement is on the horizon (see Kosovo), European politicians are at a loss how to handle the monster of their creation, other then by suppressing free speech and appeasing irrational totalitarians. And then to think their were good men and women who have given their lives for our freedom: I'm sure it wasn't this what they had in mind when they signed up!

- Speaking of which, here's another pleasant uptake in the Confessions of a Closet Republican (bless her! and note the story of Liberal oppression in her profile).

- And how Foehammer has finally had enough!!! He's in expanded resistance mode ...

Copyright © 2007 The Lighthouse

City Journal - Bowling with our own

Whereas yours truly is a great skeptic of futuristic vistas (the 1984 dystopia of Orwell excluded) - due to the unforeseen they rarely play out in reality - in the preceding six posts in this series on Neo-Totalitarianism we outlined, how specifically Europe, and possibly large parts of the rest of the world, might look like later on this century. Said sketches are based on the present mega trends in political, cultural and social-economic thought. As a reminder:

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Multiculturalism and Beyond
Part 3 - Indoctrination and Education
Part 4 - Transnational Progressivism
Part 5 - The Transnational State
Part 6 - Liberty for Social Security

A more or less free flowing train of world events is in the current postmodern constellation out of the question. Developments are largely engineered by liberal meritocracies and intelligentsias, driven by Left-Liberal political and ideological ideals.

It foresees in the obliteration of the nation state and nationality, and a redefinition of democracy based on proportional power-sharing among minorities; the creation of large, federal entities in which current nations become regions and provincial stretches of real estate; ethnic identity is substituted for identification with a cultural minority group; cradle to grave social security in return for economical prosperity through free market trade, high taxation and compliance with the ideology (political correctness); local government management that carries out the policies set out by a dirigiste, central, federal government, not unlike the erstwhile Soviet Union, on whichmodel the E.U. is based anyway, as explained by Wladimir Bukovsky.

What are the Red Flags, the danger signs to watch out for?

Buzz words to influence public opinion - which is done professionally by lobbyists and P.R. agencies - with any message conveying accomplished fact, or a sense of inevitability ("We are the Borg: resistance is futile; prepare to be assimilated!"):

- "we are all interconnected now";
- "we live in a multicultural society now";
- "immigrants are not going away, so get used to it!";
- "immigration enriches cultures";
- "people have boots, not roots";
- "we have passed the point of no return";
- "these are the (social) forces of history";
- admiration for world citizenship;
- all things multicultural and inter/transnational;

- The creation of a negative atmosphere against national symbols and expressions, by subtlely raising eyebrows at traditions and tut-tutting of other expressions of national unity, conveying they are at best anachronistic (a bit dumb, bourgeois, not sexy), jingoistic offences against political correctness at worst;

- The creation of a negative emotion towards the nation-state and sovereignty, which must be perceived as archaic;

- The discourse is steered away from the globalism versus anti-globalism dichotomy; it is substituted by the question transnational versus international: the notion that nation states and nationality are unsuited to deal with the global problems of the future, suggesting the answer lies in a form of global governance.

Indoctrination through education:

- continuation of the gradual history lesson eradication program; in the meanwhile:

- re-writing of national history: non-offensive 'narrative' arranged around "themes";

- curricula and school books to be adjusted in accordance with the ideology;

- the abolition of time lines, so nobody is sure which event happened in reaction to what;

- the promotion of an altered perception of reality: nothing is what it seems, objective truth does not exist;

- manipulation of language and value system;

- thought control and preservation of 'self-esteem' at all costs.

Having thus created a receptive and passive state of mind and historical confusion - in essence a void that prevents reference and benchmarking - the creation and dissemination of the dim view that an obscure past consisted largely of disease and poverty, intermittent with ethnic and religious war fare and "wave after wave of ethnic cleansing";

Making religion in general, but Christianity in particular suspect by the message: "look at all the wars and misery that religion has caused" without blinking an eye of course at the millions and millions of victims of the last two world wars and counting, which will only be used in so far as it supports the ideology;

- combining moral relativism and subjectivism with dogmatic absolutism where the ideology is concerned;
- severance of the link between nationality and the place of birth;
- mind control through political correctness;
- possibly the declaration of a new era, starting for instance at the third millennium as the year 0 CNE (Common New Era);
- Marxist dichotomy oppressor versus oppressed is maintained;
- continued eradication of objectivism and eternal truths;

Central to the Law are Positive Human Rights that conform to Liberal morality; these are not universally valid across the board: subjective, unequal groups have different rights, the greater their proportion of inequality, the more positive rights; criminalization of moralities that do not conform with Liberal morals (homophobia, Islamophobia); no differentiation between the person and the act (for example condemnation of homosexual acts while respecting gays, as is the current Roman Catholic position);

Cultural group's proportionalism and representation in NGOs, government and other vital institutions, which must also reflect the world perspectives of the various minority groups;

For a typical example of a transnational state we can look at the U.N.'s proposals for the new, independent Kosovo: how its democratic proportional power sharing is supposed to work and how the country is embedded into the large 'federation' of the E.U.; the project is also seen as the cradle of a moderate, liberal, European Islam;

Promoting the acceptance of multiple passports: no loyalty towards a particular national state. According to the theory of the epoch of Fourth Generation Warfare, a period in which we find ourselves currently, multiculturalism is the death of states: cultural loyalties super-cede state loyalties;

The legitimacy of the nation-state (especially those with a persistent lead culture) is undercut wherever the opportunity arises by way of the Kosovo precedent (if it comes to fruition, which is by no means certain), thus paving the way for embedding states into the large multicultural and multi-ethnic federations, or systems of total interdependency;

Ongoing immigration in ever larger numbers, broadening the fiscal base, thus enabling Leftist governments to maintain social security spending for unequal groups;

State dependency of populations through taxation and benefits: the state acts as a parent, taking over the major responsibilities of the individual.

The buzz already is "well, everybody knows immigration is to make up for the low native demographic numbers", but that's just the point: people could know if they were suspicious enough to read between the lines, interpret the goings-on, read the mega trends and extrapolate, but they aren't informed by those whose duty it is, which is possibly the most scandalous of the affair. The media and the politicians deem it a too sensitive a subject to discuss it out in the open, preferring instead public manipulation as the more responsible attitude.

It seems suitable to wrap up the series with remarks from John Fonte's article that "... in the twentieth century the Bolshevik Revolution, the National Socialist revolution, the New Deal, the Reagan Revolution, the Gaullist national reconstruction in France, and the creation of the E.U. were not inevitable, but were the result of the exercise of political will by elites."

In the same vein are the Musings by Maddocks on "Le Quιbιcois Libre" (Part I and Part II) on this same subject: "Just like 'diversity' and 'multiculturalism', transnationalism and global governance aren't the forces of history, but simply ideological tools advocated by the activist elites."

Copyright © 2007 The Lighthouse

Nation: c.1300, from O.Fr. nacion, from L. nationem (nom. natio) "nation, stock, race," lit. "that which has been born," from natus, pp. of nasci "be born" (see native).

Meet the transnational state of the future: Kosovo. It is roughly 100 square miles or 140km2 of highly rugged territory, sandwiched between Serbia and Albania, and Montenegro and - courtesy of the Greeks who for the time being object to the story of their nation being hijacked by historical upstarts, the diplomatic entity going by the elegant acronym of FYROM.

The Balkan Peninsula, being traditionally one of the world's highly inflammable tender spots, is an NGO paradise come true for experiments in international social engineering (multiculturalism and transnationalism: see also "Yes, to an Islamic State in the Balkans" and "Some Darned Thing in the Balkans"). Like bringing democracy to the Middle East it is a high stakes gamble, akin to lighting a cigarette in a kerosene depot. The last time I opened a history book the local buzz words were self-determination and autonomy. The Balkans ever have been the living proof of the futility of multiculturalism. So it is a bit of a challenge to The Construction Team but the pay-off will be well worth the effort. And the international community will boast yet another peace producing export product after the completion of the E.U.

The Balkans - like the Middle East - is awash with cloak and dagger stories. One documented conspiracy theory of Serbian origin is based on the Yugoslav wars of the late last century and the planned Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corporation (AMBO) pipeline, carrying Russian Caspian oil via the Bulgarian port of Burgas to the Albanian port of Vlore. As the joint venture is registered in the U.S. - the beating heart of Capitalism - and Germany is seen to have rang in the first Yugoslav war by adexterous diplomatic maneuvering, this has given rise to theories about outside economic interests and the wars of independence having been willfully caused to break up the happy national-socialistic unity under the late President Slobodan Milosevic.

The same mechanism is at work from all sides in respect of the U.N. protectorate of Kosovo. NGOs are accused of gross favouritism towards Albania and the Albanian Kosovars, ostensibly because they need their cooperation with regard to the pipeline. It is an area rife with conspiracy theories, reason for me to stay away from these aspects of the case: remember 'oil' conspiracies in the earlier stages of the Iraq war - a subject now dead ...? I'm still waiting for the apologies ...

It is certain however that diplomatically and politically something is afoot. The U.N. does not have the legal power to declare countries independent; nevertheless, if Security Council member and Serb ally Russia doesn't veto the transnational plan, drawn up by the U.N. Secretary General's special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, de facto the U.N. will have done exactly that.

It will provide a precedent for any other area in the world with separatist aspirations or with an axe to grind, to go the same route. But perhaps this is exactly what the Transnational Progressive community have in mind: supporting the breaking up of nation-states, thereby creating a faithful future clientele in the "NGO community of free nations", and the gradual end to the monocultural remnants of the era of "sectarian war after war, and wave after wave of ethic cleansing", as the latest postmodern propaganda slogan goes. Reason for a game of international hypocrisy: while the plan doesn't use the i-word, all parties understand it allows the protectorate E.U. supervised independence and all the trappings of statehood - in the Balkans still articles of reverence: a flag, an anthem, but also a parliament, a constitution and citizenship, moreover the ability to contract and join membership of international "communities of free nations".

Pertinent to our investigation in Transnationalism are the comments in an article written by one the Three-fold Kings of the Multicultural Borg ("Resistance is Futile"), Timothy Carton Ash in his pamphlet of preference, Al-Guardian on 15th February, carrying the revealing title "Why Kosovo should become the 33rd (E.U.) member - and Serbia the 34th (E.U. member)": "The way forward for Kosovo is not nation-building or even state-building, but member-state-building. And for Serbia too. This means European leaders having the courage and vision to say that we actually want a further enlargement of the E.U., because only then will peace be secured in the Balkans and Europe be whole and free."

For all Garton Ashes' glorying of transnational entities and disdain for the nation-state, he doesn't lack a sense of symbolism: he sees the entire Balkan to join the union, "as proposed a few years ago by a commission chaired by Giuliano Amato, on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the first world war, the Sarajevo summit of 2014 should celebrate this achievement"

Kosovo moreover provides a chance of experimenting in the development of a moderate, liberal, European, form of Islam, long seen as The Solution to the problems of integrating a large Muslim population into Europe. It proves to the Turks and Eurabia that the E.U. isn't a Christian club (God forbid!) and it may be an important asset in isolating Jihadism. If a beautiful Utopian thought, as is usual with the ideologues it doesn't reckon with the Wahhabi type assertively in seeking world Islamic dissemination: it has already been reported that Saudi financed mosques and madrassas are being built on the territory of Kosovo. In this chilling Front Page article it transpires that even some Jews are taken in by the propaganda.

It is rarely mentioned as such, but in the mainstream press, in the international community and in the eyes of common citizens in the West it is often Serbia that is seen as the jingoistic culprit, held responsible for the anachronistic goings-on in the Balkans during the 1990's, ruining postmodern and middle class appetites night after night, watching the news reports on television.This common wisdom is made easy by the guilt attached to the roles played in the wars by N.A.T.O. and the U.S., but above all by the cowardice of the E.U. and the pathetic, immoral attempts at 'field marshaling' by the U.N.

The whole confounded thing came crashing down with the proclamation of strategically counter-instinctive enclaves, the so-called 'Muslim safe havens' by a sentimental, if single-minded French general with a conscience and a misplaced sense of chivalry. But after nobody appeared to be willing or able to preserve the neutrality of the enclaves, and Muslim fighters launched daily attacks on Serbian forces out of the safe havens, the Serbs in the person of General Mladic decided to put an end to this unsustainable situation.

The U.N. declined to defend the safe havens that were created in its name, resulting in the execution of thousands of Muslim civilians (or fighters, as the case may have been - in any case they were all men), and Dutch U.N. troops at Srebrenica - whom the U.N. had seen fit to arm in conformance with the Boys' Handbook of Scouting so as not to 'provoke any violence' in the war zone - had the heroic task of overseeing the dismantling of one of the monstrosities.

"We never want to do this again", a N.A.T.O. Defence Minister is held to have said. "This" being conducting a war by committee, making moral and military issues subservient to legal U.N. niceties, resulting in the U.S. going it alone in Iraq without U.N. green light later on in history.

One thing and another seems to have caused blindness and disinterest for the facts and the Serbian side of the story. The Front Page article already mentioned also reveals that the late reporter Daniel Pearl as early as 1999 made a case for - gross exaggeration at best, or a war of propaganda at worst - on the part of the Albanian UCK (or Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)) against Serbia. I remember at a time having the unsettling feeling of watching a film production rather than a journalistic news report; I dismissed it of course as unwarranted suspicion on my part.

What fills me with apprehension is the ease displayed by the international community to give in to Albanian threats, who see independence as "the only acceptable outcome", in the words of Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu. It is said that tensions could plunge the turbulent region back into violence.

More curious - what to think of a passage in a recent report produced by the International Crisis Group, an independent NGO, that by the way effortlessly reproduces a link to Garton Ash' biased article on Al-Guardian.
"Kosovo's Status: Difficult Months Ahead" states, and please note the emphatic imperative:

"The Contact Group should not permit further delay in Ahtisaari's proposals after Serbia's January elections and should not dilute them ... The E.U. Council should give its preparations and requirements for assuming post-status responsibilities in Kosovo more prominence, both for European public opinion and the Security Council. The incoming German Presidency should make uniting member states behind the Ahtisaari proposals a top priority. The Security Council should act promptly and positively when it receives Ahtisaari's proposals, recognising that delay would likely mean a return of Kosovo to its agenda soon in crisis circumstances." Alex Anderson, Crisis Group's Kosovo Project Director adding: "If Kosovo is to graduate to independence in 2007 - as it should - it must at the same time grow up."

No pretence of any neutrality there. The fear (or threat) for a new crisis by denying Kosovo independence doesn't convey any credibility in the face of the future crises that will follow the Kosovo precedent, which may cause entire regions to break away from nation-states. It makes no sense if the goal is stability!

Remarkable is Fourth Generation War theorist William Lind's comment in an article "That Flapping Sound you Hear": "... I want to state it as plainly as I can: in a Fourth Generation world, multiculturalism is the death of states ... cultural loyalties super-cede state loyalties."

While some nation-states will inevitably fall prey to the separatist Kosovo precedent, the international community's will on the other hand, as witnessed by the break away of Bosnia (and also witnessed in Iraq) want multicultural and multi-ethnic entities bound firmly together in federations and other umbrella unions. Huge semi democratic constructs are built as seen in yesterday's post, proportional power-sharing among unequal groups to replace traditional voting systems: the transnational version of democracy.

Serbia is being punished for misbehaving towards minorities by losing a large chunk of what it considers to be its heartland, conveying the message to the world at large, that multicultural or multi-ethnic states had better behave towards their minorities - even if it is the minorities that start causing trouble in a quest for independence - under the subjective principle that unequal groups must be compensated in proportion to their inequality. That the nation-state is seen to be losing legitimacy fast, is simply part of the message: you don't abide by transnational principles, you stop to exist.

As different groups and peoples are locked into multicultural states by social contract as we shall see in the last instalment, states themselves are locked into larger umbrella systems of interdependency, so as to ensure politically correct transnational behaviour amongst states, thus making the possibility of future wars virtually impossible.

Let's take a look at "The Ahtisaari Plan - what's inside?" "Ahtisaari's proposal is first and foremost a document designed to make Kosovo a multi-ethnic society. This means that the non-Albanian communities have been granted substantial powers. With more than 90% of Kosovo made up of Albanians, the minority Serb, Roma, Ashkali, Gorani, Egyptian, Turk and Bosniak communities are given tremendous influence in all sectors. In brief, Ahtisaari has designed an asymmetric state." The finer details, such as parliamentary seating arrangements and how in some areas one can only have heart by-pass surgery, in say - an Orthodox hospital, can be read in the full article.

Seeing - as in some recent cases, for example in Bosnia which rigidly kept Croats, Serbs and Muslims, separated together in one country, with no apparent benefit but hating each other to the core from up close - one wonders what the objection against the creation of a monocultural, or mono-ethnic nation-state exactly is?

Read 'Jurist' guest columnist Antony D'Amato of Northwestern University School of Law who says that creating an independent multi-ethnic state in Kosovo would almost certainly be a human rights disaster for the 200,000 Serbs living there, making up some ten percent of the total population. Nota bene: this is what you get if you lose the numbers game! D'Amato asks: "What about partitioning Kosovo into a Serbian and an Albanian territory?

The short answer is, that it wouldn't be conform the multicultural and transnational ideology. If Transnational Progressivism is seen as a method towards a conflict-free future, we will see the encouragement of the breaking up of states with a leading culture by way of the Kosovo precedent, while the interlocking into multicultural and multi-ethnic constructs under the benevolent management of democratically unaccountable NGOs, will be the favoured form of Empire for the future.

Since it conforms with the ideology (read: is politically correct), it is not expected that blood shed of any significance - caused by a heightened sense of nation, religious fervor or cultural differences - is likely in the transnational state of the future.

Copyright © 2007 The Lighthouse

Fjordman in his refutation "A Great Conversation" of what must have been devastating criticism from Helsinki University to his article "Communism for the 21st Century", brought us up to speed with the chilling 2001 article written by Hudson Institute Fellow John Fonte, "The Ideological War Within the West" in which Fonte foresees the emergence in a few decades hence, of an ideology described as Transnational Progressivism: "post-liberal democratic, and - in the American context, post-Constitutional and post-American ... a universal and modern world view that challenges both the liberal democratic nation-state in general and the American regime in particular."

He describes what I have termed till this day, a borderless, multi-ethnic and multicultural Empire without an Emperor, but ruled by a democratically unaccountable meritocracy. Hence I will take the liberty of adopting Fonte's term as an apt definition and description. Transnational progressivism involves the following:

- Instead of negative individual rights, the emphasis is on mostly, positive rights of unequal groups (racial, ethnic, gender), proportionate to their perceived inequality (see the Easter Egg series);

- The Marxist dichotomy of oppressor (the state, the majority) versus the oppressed (groups, immigrants) has lost nothing of its validity and is supreme;

- Group's proportionalism and representation across the board; no underrepresentation in institutions;

- Democracy means proportional power-sharing among groups (examples are today's trouble spots like Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq, and their political and democratic constructs). These are to take the place of traditional voting systems, as one man, one vote, majority rule, and plurality voting systems like first past the post or winner-takes-all;

- The values of important institutions (governmental and NGOs) must reflect the world perspectives of the minority groups, as opposed to the Western, white, male ethnocentric narrative that is currently taken as universally valid;

- Gradual deconstruction of national narratives: re-writing of history (a recent affair of the re-writing of a Greek history school book to conform with E.U. politically correct non-offensive requirements, comes to mind), abolishing of national symbols, and in time dismantling of national borders, sovereignty, and the national state;

- The promotion of world citizenship, as opposed to national citizenship: severance of the relation between place of birth and the national identity, between blood and soil, or in bogey Third Reich lingo "Blut und Boden" by postmodern messages about "people having boots, not roots!"; dual passports and analogous national loyaltiesare not perceived as a problem, the crime of treason being already somewhat of an anachronism.

- For the time being the concept of Transnationalism can be used as a tool: providing elites with both an empirical tool (a plausible analysis of what is) and an ideological framework (a vision of what should be).
Transnational Progressivism is basically the next step in global multiculturalism gone berserk, with radical subjectivism as its political ideology (read: the politically correct).

A characteristic of Progressivism is, that it is realized at a snail's pace (about E.U. speed), so that implementation is hardly noticed so as not to be too disturbing. It is a very long-term and gradual project. The dichotomy is steered away from globalism versus anti-globalism, to transnational versus international. For an example of this discourse, see this article on Eurozine.

According to Fonte, "Transnationalism is the next stage of the multicultural ideology. The argument to watch out for, is "that 'globalization requires some form of 'global governance' as the national state and the idea of national citizenship are are unable to deal with the global problems of the future.' The same scholars who touted multiculturalism now herald the coming transnational age."

Add to that the social, economical and monetary implications we will come to speak of in a later part of this series, and voila, Neo-totalitarianism! It's what you get if you allow the Left to lodge itself in all the strategic positions, decade after decade: all levels of teaching and education, liberal arts, humanities, journalism (which is seen as an extension of teaching), advisory boards, all levels of governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations, including the lumpen intelligentsia.

A good example of what transnationals see as wrong with the world are those straight lines in the sand that can be found in any place where history took place, but Africa is a case in point. Those straight borders are perceived as unnatural remnants of a colonial and imperialistic past, blamed for everything from drought and poverty, to tribal warfare and genocide. An example of how the map should look in the transnational view - how all continents ought to be, is shown in the second picture. As it happens this idea of geological order coincides very happily with the Islamist view of the Caliphate. In any case, the lines in the sand, or clay, are set to go into history's dustbin.

One last word about a matter which pops up regularly: the perceived hand of the corporate Right (which by the way is nowadays frequently the corporate Left) in the promotion of globalization and multiculturalism. It is argued that capitalism views people solely as a combination of a labour resource and a consumer market. Western culture is seen as imposed from the top down by global businesses on innocent nations around the globe. What is less often brought up, is that it is frequently Leftist government policies that force corporations to take their employment opportunities off-shore, where the optimum combination of best resources versus lowest overhead is available. Thank heaven that the raison d'κtre of businesses isn't global social engineering by way of the pay-roll, but the infamous bottom line, which is still the single source of economic wealth, that is so abhorred by nice Leftist people who wallow in materialism.

It seems suitable to wrap up this part of the series with remarks from John Fonte's article that "... in the twentieth century the Bolshevik Revolution, the National Socialist revolution, the New Deal, the Reagan Revolution, the Gaullist national reconstruction in France, and the creation of the E.U. were not inevitable, but were the result of the exercise of political will by elites."

In the same vein are the Musings by Maddocks on "Le Quιbιcois Libre" on this same subject: "Just like 'diversity' and 'multiculturalism', transnationalism and global governance aren't the forces of history, but simply ideological tools advocated by the activist elites."

To the conceptual framework of international politics can be added a fourth dimension, as follows:

1. competition and conflict between nation-states (and the E.U. entity);
2. competition between civilizations;
3. democratic versus undemocratic;
4. conflict between liberal democracies and transnational progressivism.

A typical building bloc of transnational progressivism would be the proposed - for the time being semi autonomous - independent state of Kosovo in the European Balkan heartland, of which more in a separate post in this series.

Further reading on Transnational Progressivism by Ralph Maddocks on Le Quιbιcois Libre: Part I and Part II.

~ To be continued ~

"I did what I thought was right". The end of an era. Tony Blair today announced he will tender his resignation to the Queen on 27th June after ten years in office. His Labour economic legacy is debatable. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing the U.K. up close for a while, and cannot really judge the fairness of statements like "whole towns are on the state's payroll: we have no one on the dole, we only have civil servants". What I do admire is the man's core decency, his patience and power of persuasion - at least, his efforts in casu the Iraq War, which I still consider to be a Liberation.

I still see him endlessly debating TV studios filled to the brink with hysterical anti war activists.Teenagers, some moved to tears with frustration over their incapacity to understand that removing a murderous tyrant from one of the world's strategic hot spots, is of a higher moral order than letting the bastard sit out his time at the rate of hundreds tortured to death on any given day, only to be succeeded by a dynasty of recreational serial rapists. Tony, you did the right thing!

There's no debating postmodern sentimentality and irrationality, is there? The time of great statesmen is definitely over as baby-boomers hold the reigns of power. Since postmoderns have done away with the concept of objective truth, it is consequently not something they aspire to. So we don't have seekers for truth, we have activists whose opinion is formed by blurting out the very opposite of what they deem to be "the enemy's".

For instance, if U.S. President George W. Bush seeks to disseminate democracy in the Middle East, if only because democracies are on the whole more peaceful nations than Islamic versions of Nazi-Germany - the concept of democracy is vilified and its virtues relativised out of existence: suddenly "so overrated!"

Similarly, if author Melanie Phillips "is a British neoconservative" (no need to ask any less shallow questions: she's a neocon, isn't she?) "who has devoted herself to warning England that Muslims are taking over and destroying its culture" , as stated in her "oh-so-cleverly titled book, Londonistan", this is considered a hype and a gross exaggeration (or something). Let me not fall into the trap of retaliating at the italics at this point with a list of laughable Leftist book titles, their particular fruits of cerebral ravings!

The point is that if someone finally unearths Marshall Tito's Iraqi bunkers, an obvious WMD storage facility and hiding space as there ever was (one that was destroyed is described here), these reports are consigned to the muck-heap as "drooling, deranged, self-evidently moronic conspiracy dribble" ... have you quite finished? Let me ask the reader in all honesty: what age do you suppose the producer of this infantile graffiti is?

This champion linguistic distance urinating is Glenn Greenwald, blogger at Salon.com. His juvenile invective is condensed in an article with the brilliant title "Right-wing blogs discover massive conspiracy to hide WMDs in Iraq", together with updates II, III and IV. Here are links to Melanie Phillips' article "I found Saddam's WMD bunkers" and to Front Page Magazine's item "The Iraqi WMDs That Slipped Through Our Fingers".

Let's remind ourselves at this point that the WMD as a casus belli was a British canard, initiated by Tony Blair to make his task at home a little easier - and fat lot of good it did him! Factual reason was that Saddam had been violating the terms for ending the 1st Gulf War for twelve long years, an offence the Security Council for economic reasons best known to themselves, failed to enforce.

This item warrants much more in-depth coverage, which I will certainly do, but early awareness - if not hot-blooded activism - is important on this point. Michelle Malkin yesterday in "Jihadists Exploit Our Hospitality and Open Borders ... Again" describes a 'plot' in CNN inverted commas to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix. One of the suspects, "Abdullahu was familiar with the base because it was the first place he landed when arriving in the United States as a refugee from Kosovo ... Abdullahu arrived at Fort Dix as a teenager in 1999 as part of a group of about 4,400 refugees from Kosovo, officials said".

Thanks, says Michelle Malkin. Thanks, says I, after the U.N. and the E.U. with U.S. endorsement - are saying Yes to a potentially Muslim state in Europe's heartland. "As said by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos at a recent Kosovo hearing "Here is yet another example that the United States ... stands foursquare for the creation of an overwhelmingly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe."

Diana West's Townhall article "The 'limited' war for 'hearts and minds'" from which the above is an excerpt, carries an icon at the top: "Take Action"; please hit it!

As Europe, the U.N. and America console themselves with the thought that, since "we're all interconnected now" which seems to warrant "peace at any price", and the Balkan's Muslims moreover are a far cry from the Saudi desert, the signs are there - if suppressed by the MSM - that things are already starting to go very wrong indeed! Try that ... and this, for an appetizer of some darned thing in the Balkans ...

Copyright © 2007 The Lighthouse

"These people are so hard-line I think it doesn't even merit the word 'hard-line'. They're way beyond that."
Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, asked about Iran's Revolutionary Guard, currently having control over the 15 British hostages.
Question: Has anybody looked lately what else is going on, perhaps in the nuclear department?

is vying with another remarkable revelation:

"The Middle-East is going through a serious change, which has been sharpened since the Second Lebanon War. This process has brought about a change in the Arab frame of mind. Israel is no longer considered their biggest problem. This is a revolutionary thought."
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Question: Is it all Shia or just Iran's increasing power politics that's currently taking up all the attention? Or alternatively, could it be The Great Arab Unraveling? That would be good news towards the Eurabian Empire!

In more remarkable news:

- Bones of Missing Greek-Cypriots Unearthed
Bones believed to belong to more than 30 Greek-Cypriots, who have gone missing since the Turkish invasion in 1974, were found in Kyrenia, northern Cyprus, said a member of the Committee on Missing Persons, further claiming that more bones, possibly belonging to Greek-Cypriots, may also come to light.

- Euro-Parliament demands semi-autonomous Islamic state in its heartland
The European Parliament yesterday overwhelmingly backed U.N.'s Martti Ahtisaari plan for a 'supervised' autonomy for Kosovo. The E.U.'s foreign policy chief Xavier Solana called the bloc's planned development project in the province "the most important E.U. mission in history." (!)

A brief check on EuOberserver's site learns that the E.P. also have adopted a related report demanding that the disputed province of Kosovo be granted "supervised sovereignty." Said report was drawn up by Dutch Green MEP Joost Lagendijk. He expressed satisfaction over the fact that the E.P. chose to send an unambiguous signal to E.U. capitals, while saying it is the "first step" to a "united Europe" over the Kosovo issue.

Meanwhile Greek newspaper Kathimerini reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that the U.N.'s plan will fail, if pursued.

Commentary: It may be noted that said Mr Lagendijk is a staunch federalist and supports the earliest possible membership of Turkey despite - or because of - its appalling human rights record. It goes without saying that all this has nothing to do with Mr Lagendijk's private life. He is married to a Turkish woman.
It is also not explained why we should be looking forward to a semi-autonomous Islamic state in the heart of Europe, in the Balkans no less. Those unfamiliar with the area could picture themselves a sort of Tora Bora, a former tribal no-go area like Pakistan's Waziristan, smaller but just as rugged, wild and with the same tendency towards anarchy and life in accordance with the prevailing code of honour.
It may also be noted that the U.N. does not have the authority to declare any country's independence. Reason why we see all the subterfuge and underhandedness.

Copyright © 2007 The Lighthouse