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od as one of the country’s two vice-presidents.

He also indicated that the man who once seemed almost certain to take over from him when he retires from politics, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of the Parliament, was now out of the race for the presidency.

To further bolster his power, the President approved legislation that will make it a criminal offence, with a possible sentence of 20 years in jail, to “make a falsehood” about Mugabe, the police or the army or to criticise Mugabe in a private letter or e-mail.

Ian Coltart, legal adviser to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said: “This is the most fascist legislation we have ever seen – worse than anything done by Ian Smith when he ran Rhodesia.”

The glories of Kimilsungism, under the Great Leader:

Sixty years of North Korean communism have had a grim and unexpected impact on its citizens: it has paralysed their growth.

While their cousins in the south have thrived physiologically, thanks to the comforts of capitalism, North Koreans remain as stunted in stature as they were after the Second World War. Adolescents look like children, adults like young teenagers. Nor is the height difference a slight one. After studying more than 2,300 refugees who have fled the north over the past four years, anthropologist Sunyoung Pak has found that the average young northern male is 5.9cm (2.32in) shorter than his southern contemporary. The difference for women is 4.1cm (roughly 1.62in).

‘North Koreans are clearly suffering from chronic growth retardation,’ said Pak, of Seoul National University in South Korea. Her studies, to be published in the international journal, Economics and Human Biology, this month, suggest that North Koreans must have suffered severe malnutrition problems virtually since Korea split into two states in 1948.

I was saddened to hear via Counago & Spaves of the death of Kevin Coyne. A remarkable talent – musician, writer, painter – he’d been living in Germany for a number of years. All I would say is that his 1973 album “Marjory Razorblade” is one of the unacknowledged masterpieces of English rock music.

the religion.

Van Gogh’s film, Submission, showing abused female bodies superimposed with misogynist texts from the Koran, was broadcast on Dutch television in September. Few pointed out that he could have made a similar film with misogynist texts from the Bible. Rather, it spoke to the growing belief that Islam is incompatible with Dutch society. Van Gogh’s killing fed this belief. Like September 11, it has been blamed on Islam, and so all Muslims are blamed for it.

Van Gogh, of course, was notably rude about Christianity – but that’s not the point really, is it? The point is, for Kuper, if a Dutchman criticises Islam, it can only be a reflection of Dutch Islamophobia.

From the BBC:

A white gentlemen’s urinal has been named the most influential modern art work of all time.

Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain came top of a poll of 500 art experts in the run-up to this year’s Turner Prize which takes place on Monday.

Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) was second, with Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych from 1962 coming third.

Duchamp shocked the art establishment when he took the urinal, signed it and put it on display in 1917.

“The choice of Duchamp’s Fountain as the most influential work of modern art ahead of works by Picasso and Matisse comes as a bit of a shock,” said art expert Simon Wilson.

“But it reflects the dynamic nature of art today and the idea that the creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important thing – the work itself can be made of anything and can take any form.”

Picasso’s Spanish Civil War painting, Guernica, came fourth, while Matisse’s The Red Studio was fifth.

Duchamp has influenced many contemporary artists, including Tracey Emin – her unmade bed was inspired by the French artist.

Somewhere the ghost of Duchamp is chuckling…

ce was demonstrated by the fact that the prime minister felt it necessary to address the issue in the Senate.

Mr Raffarin said he believed the country’s media watchdog, the CSA, would have no choice but to stop al-Manar broadcasting to France.

“Al-Manar’s programmes are incompatible with our values. It is clear that these programmes will lead to the rescinding of the agreement signed between the CSA and al-Manar,” Mr Raffarin said.

Jewish groups in France have protested in particular about a series on al-Manar portraying Zionism as a criminal conspiracy. […]

Last week, monitors recorded a commentator on the channel speaking of what he called “Zionist attempts to transmit Aids to Arab countries”.

founded in 1997, ostensibly to create a new movement in the static media of the Arab world, which are mostly government controlled, and was initially welcomed.

Many media experts believed that the new network would create a revolution in the field of information dissemination, particularly in the Arab states on the Persian Gulf.

However, at the same time, rumors arose suggesting that the network was established by U.S. and Israeli agents in order to present a bad image of Islam to the world.

Some regional experts expressed doubts about the allegations though, because the establishment of a media outlet with the aim of promptly informing Arab nations about the latest world news seemed to be a good idea.

But the actions of the network gradually revealed the fact that Al-Jazeera officials, on the orders of Zionist agents, are trying to divide Islamic countries and tarnish the image of Islam.

These people will soon have nuclear weapons.

any other period in Russian history.

Right now there are 22 active conflicts across the globe in which Muslims are involved. Most Muslims have not even heard of most of them because those conflicts do not provide excuses for fomenting hatred against the United States.

Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali plans to make a sequel to “Submission”, the film she made with Theo van Gogh. Now, from Dutch blogger Zacht Ei:

A group of Muslims want the court to prohibit the making of Submission 2, the sequel to the film that offended Van Gogh murderer Mohammed Bouyeri. They also want the judge to issue a gag order, so she won’t ever be able to say something nasty about Islam again.

Could the proposed legislation against incitement to religious hatred mentioned in the Queen’s speech be used for the same purpose here?

MEMRI again (via lgf) with some TV clips from Ken Livingstone’s pal Sheikh Al Qaradhawi. In the top one, from Al-Jazeera on November 28th, after a quick blast at homosexuals he’s bemoaning the controversy stirred up by the Zionist lobby about his views on wife beating. Just to set the record straight: he’s not saying it’s obligatory to beat your wife, just that it’s permitted. Why the fuss? Beating doesn’t benefit every wife, but it is suitable for some. So….good to have that cleared up.

Personally I’d have preferred less sight of Sheikh Al Qaradhawi and more of the woman interviewing him.