Excellent article from Ed West in the Spectator about the attempts by the Saudis and other Savage Islamic nations to shut down criticism of Islam.

Mr West said:

“Further to yesterday’s post on Britain’s apathy about Christian persecution, the main question people asked in response was: what can Britain do, without military means?

Taking aside that our military power helped to bring about persecution in Iraq and almost certainly would have done in Syria had this government got its way, there are lots of ways you can peacefully influence a country’s politics, including financial and moral pressure. That is what Saudi Arabia does, after all.

The Organisation Islamic Co-operation (OIC), for example, a bloc of 57 Muslim countries dominated by the Saudis, has just released the latest edition of its annual ‘Islamophobia report’.

It states that in the West Islamophobia:

‘…has become increasingly widespread, which, in turn, has caused an increase in the actual number of hate crimes committed against Muslims. These crimes range from the usual verbal abuse and discrimination, particularly in the fields of education and employment, to other acts of violence and vandalism, including physical assaults, attacks on Islamic centers and the desecration of mosques and cemeteries.

‘In this context, acceptance of various forms of intolerance, including hate speech and the propagation of negative stereotypes against Islam and Muslims in some western countries contribute towards proliferation of intolerant societies. This process is further supported by… the exploitation of freedom of expression and perpetuation of an ideological context advocating an inescapable conflict of civilizations.’

There is nothing wrong with Muslim countries keeping abreast of anti-Muslim prejudice or violence outside their borders. But, as the Gatestone Institute report states:

‘Chapter 4 of the report, “OIC Initiatives and Activities to Counter Islamophobia,” focused on the OIC’s ongoing efforts to promote the so-called Istanbul Process, an aggressive effort by Muslim countries to make it an international crime to criticize Islam. The explicit aim of the Istanbul Process is to enshrine in international law a global ban on all critical scrutiny of Islam and Islamic Sharia law.’

You have to admire the sheer chutzpah of the OIC in monitoring Islamophobia in western Europe where, without exception, Muslims of all kinds have full civil rights. Compare this to Saudi Arabia, where Shia and other Muslim minorities are persecuted along with all other religious groups who don’t conform.

Yet the Foreign Office seems pretty happy to engage with the OIC, and in February Baroness Warsi told them:………….”

Read the rest of this piece at: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/edwest/2013/12/you-have-to-admire-the-chutzpah-of-the-saudis-in-protesting-religious-intolerance/

What this shows is that Islam cannot exist in its present form without violence, coercion and threat. I’m also ashamed to see the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office backing a plan to criminalise criticism of Islam. The FCO have often been seen as so pro-Arab that they have been nicknamed ‘The Camel Corps’. The behaviour of the FCO over this issue is nothing short of treasonous.