keynote address: Sheikh Yassin

Tim Blair wonders in a recent post about the dubious suggestion by the Guardian that terrorism should be warded off by some sort of interfaith conference that could slake the anger of the Muslim world. Can they really be unaware that such conferences occur regularly and that they this isn't already happening? Window in Lebanon's entry for February 25 reads as follows:

For those who had doubts, the views that the radio station RFI (Radio France Internationale) holds on the Middle-East remain rather pronounced. The proof: the visit by Richard Labévière, world service editor in chief of the and editorialist for RFI, to study and documentation center, linked to Hezbollah, which contacted him so that he could participate in a conference on dialogue between Europe and the Islamic world. M. Labévière claims that it is important to converse with everyone, and not to be sectarian. This is very naïve. Accepting the invitation of a party that openly calls for the destruction of Israel is not discussion. It's taking sides. And this isn't the first time RFI has taken sides against Israel as a state.

Good reporter that he is, Mr. Labévière nevertheless got a scoop: "First off, I'd say that al-Qaeda no longer exists. At any rate, it's no longer an operational organization since September 11, 2001. That date was in a sense the result of the rise in power of an organization that is now no more than an empty shell, a kind of franchise, an ideological logo."

In a book hailed by the talking heads, Gilles Kepel, eminent Islam expert from the Center for International Research and Study [a.k.a. Sciences-Pô], also once ventured that Islamist terrorism was no longer a threat. Six months before September 11, 2001.

Do a search for Mr. LaBavure... sorry Labévière and you'll find he appears in all the wrong (read paranoid) places. Recently translated into Engish, his book, Dollars for Terror, was a boon to conspiracy theorists everywhere. Here's a Brazilian Web site accusing him of "base anti-Americanism." Since I once studied Portuguese for all of ten days, hold your applause while I try my hand at translating the first sentence:

Richard Labévière is an editorialist for Rádio França Ineternacional and a well-regarded journalist, however, it remains that his theses are always permeated with an anti-Americanism, which stands out and is similar the Brazilian kind, which bears the marks of primariness.

I'll appreciate pointers if I screwed this up.