Hudson New York

Hudson Institute is attempting to encourage civil discourse on important issues of our time. However, the views expressed are not necessarily the opinions shared by those at the institute, but reflect a variety of viewpoints that may be controversial and sometimes provocative.

Latest Articles

1. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/02/the-eus-horrible-honeymoon.php

   February 8, 2010 5:00 AM
   by Paul Belien

   The EU's Horrible Honeymoon

   Last week, Barack Obama snubbed the Europeans by refusing to attend next May's European Union summit in Madrid. The Europeans are very upset. But that is not the worst of their problems, and neither is the looming bankruptcy of Greece. Analysts fear that Spain might sink the euro, the EU's common currency, and with the euro also the dreams of greater political integration. At this point Europe is not even halfway into its 100-day political"honeymoon" since the Treaty of Lisbon, which transformed the EU into a state in its own right, came into force. So far the honeymoon has been a nightmare. Since the beginning of the year, the EU's currency, the euro, is on the brink of collapse; Greece has been placed under EU financial supervision to prevent it from going bankrupt. Now U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that he will not attend next May's EU summit in Madrid. It was to have been Obama's first visit to post-Lisbon Europe - the consecration of the new political order. Washington informed Brussels last week that Obama is not coming because it is not clear who is his European counterpart. Since the ...
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2. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/02/words-can-mean-whatever-you-choose.php

   February 8, 2010 4:30 AM
   by Herbert I. London

   Words Can Mean Whatever You Choose

   The contemporary spokesmen for government, business and the academy have taken a page out of Alice in Wonderland: Words mean whatever you choose to have them mean. At some point, words had meanings detached from the user. They were ideas that stood on their own, buttressed by Webster's Dictionary. Now, of course, they are unmoored, set adrift by sophists who employ words for advantage or even to change meaning. The Orwellian reversal of language, e.g. "war is peace" has been taken to a new level of manipulation. President Obama no longer refers to enemy combatants; they are now "isolated radicals." This is a blinkered attempt to suggest that it isn't jihadists we are opposed to, but the most radical elements within this category. Similarly, we are not in a war against terrorists; we are rather in overseas operations. On the homefront the word "stimulus" has been expunged from public usage as it did not stimulate: it is now "spending." "No new taxes" - a campaign pledge - has been converted into "new taxes." "Transparency," as in all government action will be transparent and visible on C-Span, has been transmogrified into secrecy as in the Healthcare bill of 2000 pages that will not be made available for public review. The redistribution of wealth - an apparent government objective - is understood as taking from Peter to give to Paul, a condition with which Paul rarely objects. Bonuses, even if built into iron clad contracts, are little more than manifestations of "exploitation." -- an argument made by community organizers who, ...
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3. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/02/a-dutch-politician-a-sharia-compliant-court-assassination-by-trial.php

   February 5, 2010 5:15 AM
   by A. Millar

   A Dutch Politician. A Sharia-Compliant Court. Assassination by Trial

   A few years ago Britain's Channel 4 TV broadcast a documentary exposing a number of hate preachers. These were shown variously praising Osama bin Laden, denouncing non-Muslims, or "kuffar," calling women "deficient," and inciting violence, including the murder of Jews and homosexuals. Much of what was said, and broadcast in Undercover Mosque, was patently illegal under British law. Instead of acting against the preachers, the police filed a complaint against the filmmakers, whom they accused of taking things "out of context" - it is just that easy to do, when imams call for murder, apparently. The filmmakers were later vindicated. But the message had been sent loud and clear: Shine a light on the growth of radical Islam, expose the extremists, and you - not they - will be prosecuted. Britain's police were not the only ones to defend the fanatics. Equally surreal, when ...
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4. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/02/islamist-lawfare-defeated-in-texas.php

   February 5, 2010 4:30 AM
   by Daniel Huff

   Islamist Lawfare Defeated in Texas

   Libel suits are not normally associated with national security, but a case the Texas Supreme Court ruled on January 15 carries just such implications. The suit against internet journalist Joe Kaufman is a prime example of how libel law can be manipulated to stifle dissemination of information about terrorism and radical Islam. It arises out of Kaufman's September 28, 2007 FrontPage Magazine article on the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), which sponsored a "Muslim Family Day" at Six Flags Over Texas. Kaufman vowed to protest the event citing, among other things, ICNA's alleged "physical ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and financial ties to Hamas." Within days, Kaufman was sued, but not by ICNA. Rather, seven Dallas area Islamist organizations, none of them named in the article, sued Kaufman for defamation arguing they were implicated by inference since they too sponsored the event. In June 2009, a Texas appellate court dismissed the case before ...
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5. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/02/uzbekistan-as-a-us-ally.php

   February 4, 2010 5:00 AM
   by Stephen Suleyman Schwartz

   Uzbekistan As A U.S. Ally?

   The Obama administration, in its squirming attempts to project an effective strategy against radical Islam in Afghanistan, has committed itself to a series of dangerous illusions. These have included continuing efforts to find allegedly moderate Taliban - a nonexistent phenomenon - as partners for the legitimate government in Kabul. Such attempts have accompanied a larger and more fundamental American error: apathy regarding Pakistan as the determining factor in the Afghan conflict. The battle for South Asia is not limited to the Afghan backwater. Extremist Islamist forces in the region aim at control of nuclear-armed Pakistan, seizure of the whole of Kashmir, further disruption in India, and penetration of Bangladesh. Destructive elements in this panorama include the clerical dictatorship in Iran as well as the fundamentalist Deobandi sect, represented by the Taliban, and aggressive Pakistani jihadist movements. Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi Muslims, whose religious legacy was influenced by Persian more than Arabic Islam, are Sunnis, but the armed fanatics among them, although financed and encouraged by Saudi Wahhabism, are less fearful of Iran than are the Arab powers. The Pashtun ethnic group that comprises the main component of the Taliban speaks an Iranian language. Pashtuns and Tajiks, the main Afghan ethnic groups, although long-term rivals, are, at least in linguistic terms, cousins: Tajik is also an Iranian idiom. The Islamist terror, now washing Afghanistan and Pakistan with blood and flooding India and Bangladesh with the money typically needed to recruit new jihadist cadres, has a Central Asian as well as a South Asian orientation. Prior to September 11, 2001, Al-Qaida supported the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which sought to ...
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6. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/02/geert-wilders-no-fair-trial.php

   February 4, 2010 4:55 AM
   by BlogSpot

   Geert Wilders: No Fair Trial

   The Amsterdam District Court apparently doesn’t want to hear the truth about Islam. Nor is it interested to hear the opinion of top class legal experts in the field of freedom of expression. In one swift move, the Court brushed aside fifteen of the eighteen expert-witnesses the defence had requested to be summoned. Only Hans Jansen, Simon Admiraal and Wafa Sultan were allowed to be heard as expert-witnesses. Their testimony ...
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7. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/02/stacking-the-deck-against-geert-wilders.php

   February 4, 2010 4:45 AM
   by Aaron Eitan Meyer

   Stacking the Deck against Geert Wilders

   In a brief courtroom session today, Amsterdam's District Court found it had jurisdiction to hear the case against Geert Wilders for "inciting hatred," and further announced it would allow only 3 of the 18 witnesses Wilders had requested. Wilders had sought three categories of witnesses: 5 free speech experts, 8 Islam experts, and 5 "experiential experts." This latter category consisted of various Islamists, including Theo van Gogh's murderer, a Dutch imam who had unsuccessfully tried to sue Wilders, and the Egyptian fundamentalist Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The court decided to permit only the three Islam experts to testify: Johannes Jansen, Simon Admiraal and Wafa Sultan. In fairness, barring the Islamist witnesses is perhaps excusable. Presumably none would be willing to testify voluntarily, and only one resides freely in the Netherlands. What is much more troubling is the court's refusal to hear from any of Wilders' five free speech experts - all of whom would ...
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