Renowned theoretical physicist

Stephen Hawking spoke

from the Great Hall of the People

Monday, June 19, 2006

"We are getting close to answering the age-old questions:

 Why are we here? Where did we come from?"

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Islamic Conference Thinks

Muslims Are Getting Bad Press

The Same O.I.C. that Enables Jihad in Darfur,

Seeks jihad media to tell the "truth" about Islam

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SEPTEMBER, 2006 UPDATE

Islamic Conference Thinks

Muslims Are Getting Bad Press

The Same OIC that Enables Jihad in Darfur,

Seeks jihad media to tell "the truth" about Islam

 

A September 27, 2006 press release announced the plans of Saudi Arabian interests to funding and supporting Malaysian representatives who are intent on turning two defunct Saudi Arabia-based text and media organizations into a functioning world-wide Islamic media network. The new “newscasters” will attempt to counter the “skewered,” “lopsided” and “negative” views of Western media.

 

The new Islamic States Broadcasting Organization will be funded by the 57-member nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the world’s largest inter-governmental political grouping of Muslim nations dedicated to the welfare of the world’s one billion plus “believers” in the recitations of Mohammad and the traditions of their faith.  The OIC is a Permanent Delegation to the United Nations. It represents groups in 57 mostly Islamic nations in the Middle East, North and West Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Americas.

 

Malaysia Gets The Job

The Malaysian Foreign Minister is said to have complained of the media images and stories displaying a bias toward Israel, following his tour of Lebanon after the 2006 Hizballah kidnapping affair.  Malaysia currently holds the chair of the OIC and a Saudi royal designated Malaysia to head the creation of this new voice for Saudi Islam. The National Front coalition’s platform calls for modern and progressive Islamic rule as well as reform, “We want to revive it,” Malaysia’s Deputy Information Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamid said of the Islamic media outreach.

 

Multilingual Islamic Media Outreach

Malaysia is to receive OIC funding for setting up of a center in Kuala Lumpur for the finding and screening of journalists from Islamic countries. Plans are said to include the establishment of news networks under the 118-nation Non-Aligned Movement, including Spanish language outlets in Cuba and Venezuela. The outline and purpose of the international Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979. "The negative view of Islamic countries must change. The foreign media often has a bias against us," said Zahid, who seems to be taking charge. No start-up date was announced. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/September/theworld_September955.xml&section=theworld

 

On September 13, 2006 at a meeting of the OIC information professionals in Riyadh, participants were warned by the OIC chief of the vilification currently faced by Islam. He asked Muslims to seek investment opportunities in world media as a means of correcting the image of Islam and called on Muslim countries to set up more channels in widely-spoken foreign languages. "Muslim investors must invest in the large media institutions of the world, which generally make considerable profits, so that they have the ability to affect their policies via their administrative boards," said OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu a the gathering in the city of Jeddah.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-09-13T142024Z_01_L13903592_RTRUKOC_0_UK-RELIGION-MEDIA-ISLAM.xml&src=rss

  

An investment in 5.5% of News Corp. by a Saudi prince is the largest known holding by a single Muslim in Western media, demonstrating to some the minimal Saudi economic interest in media equities. KUDOS to JIHADWATCH http://www.jihadwatch.org/

 

NO FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN MALAYSIA

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, which is claimed by just over 60% of the population. All Malay persons are officially regarded and treated as Muslim, regardless of private belief, with the exception that Muslims only must follow the dictates of Sharia courts. The media in the Malaysian federation are heavily controlled by government and political officials of the Barisan National Front coalition which has ruled since the nation’s 1957 independence within the Commonwealth. Print media are regulated through requirements for obtaining annual publications licenses under the Printing and Presses Act.  

 

SEE: ISLAMIST JIHAD-GENOCIDE IN SUDAN

 

 

The Korean Wave in the 21^st Century

Christian Missionaries surfing for Asia

Christianity has gained few converts in Asia over the years, except for South Korea, which in 2006 was 30% Christian in a population of 48+ million. South Korea has the world’s second-largest missionary outreach after the United States.  The nation has undergone an amazing transformation following the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the election of its first civilian president in 1992.

Korea’s social transformation has come compressed into just a few years but still with the usual strains on such social considerations as sex, marriage and relationships, reflected in more crime, higher divorce rates and lower birth rates.

In 2007 Asia, “Korea” means stylish and fashionable and free in everything from thought and politics to clothes and entertainment. “Korean” has been dominant in forming the tastes and ideas of all Asians since the turn of the new millennium.

Acting as a filter for progressive ideas from the “West,” S. Korean culture is making these ideas more palatable to those whose languages also have been heavily influenced by stultifying Confucian and Communist ideological histories. And so, a rich civil society is becoming something to be desired in Asia.

Political freedom has also meant the lifting of travel restrictions imposed by military governments, and so thousands of Christian missionaries now are riding the Wave, especially in Asia, and are winning converts even in China, whose authorities do not yet encourage freedom of conscience.

This is an evangelical (proselytizing)Christianity with an Asian face from an Asian country that has modernized and retained its traditions. Its images are of exceedingly happy personal lives as urban professionals in a world of sophisticated consumerism (and not the stuff from the Japanese “baby killers” or parents will be angry). Spread the word!

Well, that is the picture. It is a happy Korean Christianity that honors traditional family values devastated under Communism while promising the fruits of the Enlightenment, which include mindfull  relationships and freedom of conscience among its many flowers.   

So, as the missionaries work Asia, the largest online community service in Korea, Cyworld, announced its arrival in China by adverts plastered on city buses, and Chinese kids are seen at computer centers intent on winning Korean online games - working in mysterious ways with a passion of intention as they ride the Wave into the possible directions of the future from the world's most highly wired nation.

If love indeed is a function of communication,

love indeed will save the world,

       if the world indeed is to be saved       

r

 

FREEDOM OF CONSCIOUSNESS COMING TO NORTH KOREA?

 -THE DARKEST PLACE ON EARTH -