The UN’s human-rights body approved a proposal by Muslims nations Thursday urging passage of laws around the world to protect religion from criticism.

The proposal put forward by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic countries – with the backing of Belarus and Venezuela – had drawn strong criticism from free-speech campaigners and liberal democracies.

A simple majority of 23 members of the 47-nation Human Rights Council voted in favor of the resolution. Eleven nations, mostly Western, opposed the resolution, and 13 countries abstained.

The resolution urges states to provide “protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred in general.”

“Defamation of religions is the cause that leads to incitement to hatred, discrimination and violence toward their followers,” Pakistan’s ambassador Zamir Akram said. (Heyyy, Zamir, so what about discrimination against non-Muslims in Islamic countries? Are they going to be protected against discrimination? No, right?)

“It is important to deal with the cause, rather than with the effects alone,” he said.

via UN approves religious criticism proposal | International | Jerusalem Post. tx to O Insurgente.

I had written before about this really worrying (at least for me) subject. It’s curious though: there are NO Spanish MSM which have published something about this, that I know of.

But you know what’s curious too? That the Organization for the Security and the Cooperation in Europe has alerted of the discrimination that Christians are suffering in Europe:

Last March 4th, for the 1st time in its history, the office of the Organization for the Security and the Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), for the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), organised a debate in Vienna specially focused in the risks the right to religious liberty regarding Christians, experiment in Europe.

The intervention of Mario Mauro, VicePresident of the European Parliament, was the most interesting of all. He is also the personal representative of the OSCE Presidency against racism, xenophobia and discrimination. the MEP explained that the “examples show that that discriminations against Christians do not only exist in the countries where the Christians are a minority but also in those in which they are a majority of the population, not considering the persecutions that strike these communities outside the OSCE’s area”.

(…) But, why does the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) worry now about the  abused rights of Christians? The answer was pointed out in the same debate, remembering that  hate and intolerance do not only affect the people’s security but also to country’s stability. That’s why the Organization has decided lately to intensify the efforts to counter these discriminative cases more efficiently in the future.

It seems that Christians are mainly discriminated even in Christian countries. Something which is really worrying…

NOTE that they are NOT worried about the discrimination considerated as an unlawful and unethical fact, but because it can affect country’s stability. Specially in this economic crisis…

Anyway where are the riots? Where the enraged statements made by Governments about Christian persecution? Where the Pope’s statements calling for the murder of those insulting Catholicism/Orthodox/etc.? Where the cartoonists are obliged to live in hiding because they draw a cartoon mocking Jesus Christ or the Church (whatever Church it is)? So, now tell me who did all these things and what religion the belong to now, in this very same moment. Just in case someone begins speaking about “Christian extremism” or something like that…

It’s not Spanish King Juan Carlos the only person who asks Chávez to shut up. Now his doctors (via Twitter) have told him the same, though for other reasons. He says that it’s because of “the permanent use of the cannon I have here”.

And in good time, because after winning the referendum, he feels more secure and has ordered the invasion of the rice plantations because some business are ignoring price regulations imposed by the Government (what a photo! ).

He has also menaced US President Obama, cautioning the latter against “messing with him”. The reason? Obama accused him of not fighting against drug trafficking. Chávez has answered that there is only one country that is supporting drug trafficking, and that’s USA, whose President is Obama “although I doubt Obama governs at all”, he has added.

Venezuelans have voted to lift limits on terms in office for elected officials, allowing President Hugo Chavez to stand for re-election.

With 94% of votes counted, 54% backed an end to term limits, a National Electoral Council official said.

Mr Chavez has said he needs to stay in office beyond the end of his second term in 2012 so he can secure what he calls Venezuela’s socialist revolution.

Critics say that would concentrate too much power in the presidency.

“The doors of the future are wide open,” Mr Chavez was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as shouting from the balcony of his Miraflores palace after the results were announced.

“In 2012 there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate.”

via BBC NEWS | Americas | Venezuelan leader wins key reform.

Let’s pray he doesn’t win in 2012. Today Chávez has already given another step towards dictatorship.

Yesterday I knew that PP’s MEP Luis Herrero had been expelled from Venezuela after pointing out several irregular facts (specially the change in the opening hours of the sites to vote) about the referendum to let Chávez (if he wins) be Venezuelan dictator “President for life”, referendum which will be held today. The expulsion was “nearly a kidnapping” according to Venezuelan opposition.

So, Spanish Government is going to ask Venezuelan Ambassador about the expulsion, but Elena Valenciano, Socialist responsible for Foreign Affairs has already said that “he did not fulfill the code of behaviour for international observers, because they are only charged with making a report after the elections but not prior to them“. So they can’t caution if there is a real danger to the impartiality of the elections, they can only speak when everything is done and nothing can be done about it.

Luis Herrero has stated after his expulsion that he was not as an “observer” but as an invited guest from the opposition, and, as such, with full capacity to give an opinion about what is happening there. He also added that no one from Spanish Embassy has gone to support Carlos Iturgáiz and the rest of PP’s MEPs who are also in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, López Istúriz, another PP’s MEP, considers that the statements made by Elena Valenciano “belongs really to a political komissar”, and that the measure they should have taken was “to write a protest note, not the expulsion, if they felt offended by his words”.

Zapatero’s Government (again) places itself with tyrants…

The government of Iran is following the lead of new ally Venezuela by taking its anti-American message to Bolivia, an impoverished but strategically positioned country in the heart of South America.

A nemesis to U.S. interests in the Middle East for 30 years, Iran is now pouring millions of dollars of aid into Bolivia — including construction of a milk factory in Achacachi. Its real motive, however, is joining Bolivia and Venezuela to counter U.S. interests in Latin America, analysts said.

”Is Iran in Bolivia a nuisance to the United States? Of course it is,” said Abbas Milani, the co-director of the Iran Democracy Project at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. “Iran will try to shore up support for Bolivia’s president and help the anti-American message of its regime. And being in Bolivia will give Iran more pawns to play in its dealings with the Europeans and the United States.”

via Iran courts new Andean friend — Bolivia – Americas – MiamiHerald.com. h/t Polymeme.

The timing is extremely important: the new State’s Political Constitution has been passed and statements, like the one made by Bolivian ex-President, Carlos Mesa (”US must end his imperial attitude” via Fausta) appear much more often.

Related in this blog: Ali Larijani visits Spain.

As I told you here, Alexis Marrero is a blogger opposed to Chávez who was arrested because he was putting up some posters in suport of the “No” to the Chávez’s constitutional amendment which would made him aVenezuelan life dictator president. He has posted about his detention, giving some more data about what happened.

Firstly, he just have left his companions, most of them students, to buy something to drink, when the police approached the group to tell them that they should stop doing it. He got back to tell the police that putting up posters is something normal in any democratic elections. But the policemen insisted that according to their instructions, they were not allowed to put up or just stop in that place to put up any posters, so they could choose between abandoning the place or being arrested.

One of the companions, Ramón Ramírez, told the police that “this was an antidemocratic attitude“, so the policeman just left. But he was approached by someone who later identified himself as a “majorship’s civil servant“, who spoke to him for a while and later came back with another three policemen.

The policeman got where the youths were and told them something Alexis couldn’t hear, but he got where the policemen where nevertheless. After that, they were arrested , pushed and brought to a near-by police station. They were then questioned about nearly everything and then released in three hours.

But at 12 am (next morning), police officers got to Alexis’ house where some of the protesters had gathered and while he was talking on the phone to Martha Colmenares. The policemen entered the house with guns in their hands and brought them somewhere they don’t know (a grim place, according to the description)  at 5pm, after hours of “psychological warfare“. Then they were told they were not detained: on the contrary they were just guests there. But no one informed them about who has ordered the arrest or the forced entry in their house.

They were told then to wait for the Prosecutor to arrive. But when a girl who said that was “an auxiliary Prosecutor“, but who provided no identification toback her claim, arrived, she just told them they could go home.

By the way, at the same time Chávez intimidates the opposition, he calls the people to vote him “for love“. What a jackass…

I have known about this case thanks to Martha Colmenares. Alexis Marrero is a well-known campaigner against Chávez and his blog (in Spanish) can be found here. Fausta has these news translated to English:

Venezuelan blogger Alexis Marrero (link in Spanish) was detained by police while putting up some posters asking people to vote NO on the upcoming constitutional referendum that would eliminate term limits on Chavez.

Martha Colmenares writes that Marrero was released later today, but has to appear in court tomorrow.

Results in the polls are not very clear but show that an important part of the Venezuelan citizens are not very happy with him. Precisely the last post written by Alexis in his blog had the title “NO wins by 17% in Carabobo“. But we have to wait till the actual referendum takes place.

Chávez is using every tactic to win, not only intimidation to the opposition. He has (again) asked the Venezuelan people to vote him for love and he has also said (link in Spanish) that he would repeat the referendum as many times as he needs to be sure this is what the Venezuelan people wants.

In the meantime, Ecuatorian mini-Chávez, Correa, has compared (link in Portuguese) Venezuelan Dictator President to Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. It’s scary to think this people are leaders of something, much more if we think they are the leaders of their own citizens.