Salmond's 'Friends in the Gulf'

Salmond seeks Middle East investors

Last updated 1 Nov 2011 - 2:25 am

First Minister Alex Salmond has said Scotland could offer attractive 'investment opportunities' to Gulf states
Scotland could offer attractive investment opportunities to its "friends in the Gulf", First Minister Alex Salmond has said.

Mr Salmond, on a five-day trip to Qatar and United Arab Emirates, will meet representatives from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to discuss possible joint working between UAE and Scotland on infrastructure projects.

Scottish Enterprise chief executive Lena Wilson and other leading business figures will also be at the forthcoming meeting.

Speaking before it, Mr Salmond said leading figures in both Qatar and UAE had "expressed their confidence in Scotland's economic strategy".

The meeting with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government, is "an opportunity to talk in more detail about some of the unique opportunities Scotland can offer".

Mr Salmond went on: "Worldwide market forces make this an attractive time to invest in long-term, viable capital projects. I am confident that the Scottish Government's commitment to capital investment for long-term growth will make Scotland an attractive partner for our friends in the Gulf."

The talks come after the First Minister spent two days in Qatar where he discussed strengthening links with Scotland with Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, emir of Qatar, and Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al Thani, prime minister and foreign minister.

Mr Salmond said: "The economies of Qatar and the UAE continue to perform well as they seek to diversify. They share Scotland's commitment to sustainable capital investment which will secure the long-term future of our respective economies.

"In the current economic circumstances, capital investment must be a priority in both the public and private sector. Scotland offers many attractive business opportunities, particularly in renewables and infrastructure, which offer the prospects of good returns for substantial investors.

"Now is the time to invest, which is why I am visiting both Qatar and the UAE this week."

Source: The Herald

Muslim Factions Strengthening Their Hand Within Glasgow Politics

There is a report in the Herald today that describes the weeding out of various Labour councillors in Glasgow. Almost half of the current crop will not be picked for re-election. You have to marvel at the sheer Stalinism of this. Theirs is a political culture so corrupt, so free of ordinary democratic restraints, that change must come about not through the judgement of the electorate or the opinion of local party members, but the arrival of the Man from Moscow (or in this case London).

THE unprecedented sacking by Labour of almost 20 of its councillors on Scotland’s largest local authority will see around half the current administration stand down before next May’s election.

Senior figures within Glasgow City Council’s Labour group have told of colleagues being visibly upset as more have found out the party’s machinery has effectively called a halt to their political careers.

...The cull has been driven by London, with input from some local key players.

One party source said: “The guy from London, Ken Clark, has done this across the London boroughs and knows all the backgrounds of those being interviewed. If he’s in your interview, it’s bad. They’ve been savage and in all my years in politics I’ve never known anything as brutal.”

The Herald also has some indications of who the replacements will be. Several are allied with the Mohammedan faction.

But names are also emerging of potential replacements, including former MSPs Frank McAveety and Bill Butler, ex-councillor Chris Kelly, James Adams, an RNIB campaigns manager who works with Anas Sarwar, Soryia Siddique, a lecturer at Cardonald College, and Aileen McKenzie, another ally of the Sarwar dynasty.

Source: The Herald

The SNP, of course, is no better and probably much worse. With several figures formerly prominent within the Glasgow SNP resigning recently, it looks as though the Muslim faction, with Nicola Sturgeon as its dhimmi figurehead, has fought and won a civil war within the ranks of the local party.

SNP hopes of winning Glasgow in next year’s council elections have suffered a further setback with the resignation of another party official amid bitter infighting over strategy.

Ari Mack quit as convener of the SNP’s Glasgow Regional Association (GRA).

His departure follows that of GRA Secretary Shona McAlpine and GRA vice-convenor Norman MacLeod in recent weeks, after a series of internal rows about how many candidates to field next May.

This seems innocent enough. Then we learn what the dispute is really about.

One SNP source claimed the fighting was being driven by supporters of Sturgeon, many from the Asian community, who had joined the party in the expectation of getting the chance to stand as candidates.

...A Labour source added: “The long-running feud between Nicola Sturgeon’s faction and the rest of the Glasgow SNP is bubbling up yet again. The SNP are clearly more interested in putting party interests before the people of Glasgow.”

Source: The Herald

One of the Glasgow SNP's recently departed, Shona McAlpine, dared to challenge the Muslim faction a couple of years ago after it was caught engaging in Tower-Hamlets style membership fakery.

Jahangir Hanif was asked to explain irregularities over new members signed up as he tried to win support to stand in the Holyrood elections.

The SNP members' department began asking questions after people who supposedly signed membership forms claimed to have no knowledge of joining the party.

West Scotland activist Shona McAlpine - who received the query - then demanded answers on the anomalies from Hanif, a Glasgow city councillor.

In a series of emails to Hanif, she commented: "This isn't good enough. If the media get hold of the fact we are falsly (sic) signing people up they would have a field day.
"Can you tell me if any of the others you have sent are real members or just ones you have made up?" Controversial Hanif - who was dubbed the Kalashnikov Councillor when he trained his children to fire an assault rifle during a visit to Pakistan - last night denied any wrongdoing.

He played down McAlpine's concerns, saying she had wrongly assumed he was connected to the irregularities in the membership list.

Hanif said: "She panics on every little thing. She got a whole bunch of people and assumed I had signed them up. She panicked when she got all these people.

"I didn't falsify a single form. I don't believe in doing that. I think she has panicked and mixed things up.

Source: Daily Record

Shona McAlpine earned the ire of the Muslim faction. And now she is gone.

Humza Yousaf Has Converted His White Wife to Islam

Truly sad. The information comes from a piece about our friend Humza Yousaf in the Scotsman today:

NEW SNP MSP Humza Yousaf says he wouldn't be in the Scottish Parliament if it wasn't for his love of chocolate.

Yousaf, 26, says it was the prospect of a Toblerone from his dad Muzaffar Yousaf – the first non-white member of the SNP – that first got him going out on his bike delivering leaflets for the party.

The Glasgow MSP, who wore a traditional Pakistani sherwani for the swearing-in of the newly elected members, and took his parliamentary oath in Urdu, describes himself as a "secular Muslim" and an "ardent Celtic fan".

He also talks about being threatened with suspension from school for leading a demonstration in George Square against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, only to be saved by his dad who told his son's teachers that they should have been proud of the city-centre protest.

But what marks the young nationalist out as a bright prospect in the next parliament, and likely to go places fast is that he is clearly one of Alex Salmond's favoured sons among the new SNP intake.

Alex Salmond does seem partial to those Muslims doesn't he? Humza Yousaf's cousin Osama Saeed was reported to be another of his "favourite sons".

Yousaf, who is a Glasgow University politics graduate, talks fondly about the time he spent working in Salmond's constituency office in Peterhead, and jokes that he was the "only Asian in the village".

Having worked for the first Muslim MSP, the late Bashir Ahmad, in the last parliament, Yousaf boasts an intriguing CV, which includes stints working in a Scottish Power call centre and in a "dusty" cash and carry warehouse as a teenager.

"Before the politics work, during the school summer holidays, I can remember being put on a work placement at a cash and carry warehouse in Glasgow, which was really dusty.

"I also worked in a Scottish Power call centre, which was so demoralising that I left after two weeks because there was so much of a culture of giving the hard sell to customers over the phone."

Yousaf describes his faith as "important to him", but says his horizons have been broadened by the conversion to Islam of his wife Gail Lythgoe – a fellow SNP activist.

He says: "Faith is quite important to me. My wife Gail Lythgoe is a white Muslim convert and this is obviously something that has broadened my horizon. I would describe myself as a secular Muslim who wants secular laws.

"I have interests outside politics, though, and I go to watch Celtic as much as I can. Also I used to play for an inter faith football team against the parliament team."

A secular Muslim whose faith is important to him? Sure. Gail Lythgoe, or rather Gail Yousaf as her name now presumably is, may want to examine the fate of some other white European girls who formed relationships with Mohammedans. There's an interesting story in the German newspaper BILD today about a German woman who married a Muslim and had a daughter with him. When the relationship broke down, the Muslim tried to sell the 11-year-old daughter to a 70-year-old Saudi.

Muslim Agitator Humza Yousaf Appointed to the Scottish Parliament as MSP

A new Muslim agitator has just ascended to the Scottish parliament through the regional list system, meaning no Scot got to vote on him directly. His name is Humza Yousaf although it's notable that the name is sometimes spelled Hamza Yousaf. Muslim malefactors often use the technique of spelling their names in slightly different ways to avoid scrutiny. The SNP website provides some background information on him:

Humza Yousaf, aged 25, has been active in the SNP and Glasgow politics since his teens. Graduating in 2007 from Glasgow University with honours in Politics, he went onto work as a Parliamentary aide to the late Bashir Ahmad MSP, a role he continued up until Bashir's passing.

The SNP's Deputy Leader, Nicola Sturgeon, had a close relationship with Bashir Ahmad. He is said to have looked on her as a daughter.

Humza continued working in the Scottish Parliament for Anne McLaughlin MSP and latterly Alex Salmond as a Parliamentary Researcher up until August 2010. Currently, Humza works for the SNP in their Party HQ in Edinburgh.

Jihadist extremist Osama Saeed, who was an SNP candidate in Glasgow before flocking off to Dubai to work for Al Jazeera, also worked as a researcher for Salmond. It is clear that Muslims have acquired a personal hold over Alex Salmond. According to this story in the Herald, Osama Saeed and Humza Yousaf are cousins.

Humza is an alumnus of the US State Department's prestigious International Visitor Learning Programme, whose other alumni include Rt Hon. Lord Jack McConnell, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

This is interesting. There is evidence, notably from France, that the American government has attempted to reach out to ethnic minorities living in European countries and build relationships with them, bypassing the government of the country. The International Visitor Leadership programme, which essentially involves brainwashing the participants to see things from an American perspective, is invitation-only.

In December 2009, Humza was presented the "Political Force of the Future" Award at Glasgow City Chambers as part of the Young Scottish Minority Ethnic Awards 2009.

Humza has been active in Glasgow in a range of community activities from a young age. He has been a volunteer for the International development NGO Islamic Relief since the age of 10. In the last two years he has voluntarily worked as the media spokesman for Islamic Relief Scotland, helping to manage campaigns during the Kashmir earthquake, the Swat Valley conflict, Haiti earthquake and recent Pakistan flooding.

Like most third-worlders who have been allowed to settle in European countries, he clearly identifies with his sectarian and ethnic interest groups, rather than the country that adopted him. Many of these Islamic charities have links to extremism around the world. I intend to research this Islamic Relief charity further and will make a post about it here if I find anything interesting.

Humza has also been involved in a range of other activities such as volunteering in a Glasgow based community radio station over the last 10 years, youth mentoring and producing and distributing food packs for asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow.

And like most third-worlders in Europe, one of his primary goals is to get more third-worlders into the country so he won't have to feel so out of place.

In this extract from a blog post on a separate site, he makes clear that he intends to agitate further to balkanise Scotland and advance the interests of minority groups at the expense of the Scottish people:

...ethos and the right mentality are, unfortunately, not always enough to eradicate inequality and racism, a legislative framework is needed. Currently, equalities legislation is a matter for the reserved Government; they are moving in a dangerous direction, keen to impose their ‘muscular liberalism’ agenda.

Just as with many other reserved powers, the sooner Scotland has control over the equalities framework the better and only then will we be able to work fully towards a more equal and fairer society for all.

So Harriet Harman's sweeping Equality Act was not enough? He wants to go even further. We can only tremble at the prospect of the new Inquisition he and his enablers in the SNP would like to set up.

His reference to "muscular liberalism" is to David Cameron's speech in which he said multi-culturalism had failed and European governments needed to take active steps to inculcate civilised values in their third-world immigrant communities, rather than allow them to stew in their own natural barbarism, as had been done heretofore. Humza Yousaf clearly opposes this and wants Muslims to be allowed to remain in their state of moral squalour.

The video above shows Humza Yousaf agitating against anti-terror laws, deploying the standard Muslim argument that if the Muslims don't get what they want, they will turn increasingly to extremism. Stripped of the verbiage, this boils down to: do what we say, or else we'll kill you.

When, in 2004, France passed a law that banned the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in French schools, Muslims organised protests in Paris, London and Edinburgh. Humza Yousaf participated in the Edinburgh protest.

Humza Yousaf, who travelled to the capital from Glasgow to "support our Muslim sisters" said: "We feel we have to do something. All we want is the freedom to express our religious right."

At the famous Auctiongate affair in a halal-only Glasgow restuarant, which saw items such as a Pakistani cricket top and lunches with Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon sold off to assorted Glasgow Muslims while the SNP leader and deputy leader sat smiling in attendance, the auctioneer was Humza Yousaf.

The Scottish Islamic Foundation has been one of the great Scottish scandals of modern times. Set up by former SNP candidate, and friend of Alex Salmond, Osama Saeed, a former Muslim Brotherhood spokesman who had been denounced as an extremist by Quilliam and the Centre for Social Cohesion, it was given £400,000 by the SNP government to produce an Islam festival. No festival materialised and it eventually paid back only £128,000 of the £400,000 originally given. In the meantime, its staff largely consisted of Osama Saeed and his family members. One of those family members was Humza Yousaf, Osama Saeed's cousin. He served as director of the foundation for two years. The organisation has been mired in financial scandal. In February this year, its auditors resigned because they had not been paid for work done in 2009. Indeed, it is not clear whether the organisation still exists. Its website is no longer functioning. The Scottish Islamic Foundation had a track record of supporting Islamic extremism. Humza Yousaf served as the organisation's director. Indeed, in light of the recent death of Osama Bin Laden, and the speculation that he might be replaced by Anwar Al-Awlaki, it is interesting to note that former SNP candidate Osama Saeed said of Al-Awlaki "He preached nothing but peace, and I pray he will be able to do so again." Does Humza Yousaf share his cousin's views? I think we should be told.

It seems that Muslims the world over are rejoicing about Humza Yousaf's appointment to the Scottish Parliament. (I say appointment rather than election because the regional list system mean that no one personally voted for him.) He sent this message over Twitter:

Overwhelmed by msgs of support and congrats have received. From my dad's home village in Pakistan 2 New York to right here at home

Scotland Has Two New Muslim MSPs

While George Galloway has fortunately been rejected by the good burghers of Glasgow, and will no doubt now slink off back to London, or perhaps stand for the Muslim Brotherhood in the upcoming elections in Egypt, Scotland now, unfortunately, has two new Muslim MSPs: Hanzala Malik (Labour) and Humza Yousaf (SNP).

This means the Muslims have now captured two out of the 129 overall MSP positions.

It's notable that both of these new MSPs got their seats through the Regional List rather than through direct election at the constituency level. In fact, both were placed first on the Region Lists of their respective parties in the Glasgow region. So no Scot got to vote on these people directly. They were simply appointed as part of a bureaucratic system.

I will post more about these two characters in separate posts. From what I have learned about them so far, they seem to be exactly what you would expect: typical Muslim agitators, seeking to advance the cause of Islam and use the power of the state to suppress any disquiet the indigenous population might express about what is being done to their country, their continent and their civilisation.