Thursday, February 12, 2015

His Royal Highness: Leader of the free world?

Prince Charles has subjected us to some pretty inane stuff in the past regarding the need to cull grey squirrels, his belief in man-made climate change and his antipathy to skyscrapers. (Your Royal Highness, London would be a joke if it didn't have skyscrapers. Tall buildings project power and importance, like it or not.)
But recently, Charles actually spoke about something relevant to everyone who values their freedoms and livelihoods.
On February 8, the Prince of Wales visited Jordan, the refugee camp of Zaatari in particular, which is home to 160,000 people who have fled the war in Syria. The Daily Mail reported that the Prince "looked anguished as he listened to the shocking stories of families who have been forced to flee their homes, often at great personal cost."
The heir to the throne said that the plight of Middle Eastern Christians is "a most agonising situation."
Prince Charles also met with King Abdullah II, to whom he related the stories he heard from Christian Iraqis who he had met earlier in the day. At a religious conference in Amman, with the King of Jordan present, the Prince said:
"Yesterday evening, I met a group of Iraqi Christians who have experienced His Majesty's immense compassion first-hand. People driven from their homes by individuals who adhere to a perverted and brutal misinterpretation of Islam, these Christians I met yesterday have found sanctuary in Amman thanks to His Majesty's generosity."
Really, Charles? You didn't cite the Crusades and the alleged bruality of Christian soliders 1,000 years ago? You didn't tell the King and others in the audience to refrain from getting on their high horses?
The Prince went even further. Before his trip to the Middle East, he talked of his unease with the radicalization of young Muslims in Britain and the situation faced by Middle Eastern Christians. Charles told the BBC Radio 2 program The Sunday Hour of his misgivings regarding Islam in Britain and Christianity in the Middle East:
"I have deep concern for what so many of the Eastern Christian Churches are going through in the Middle East. I just felt that it was very important to show that sympathy with them but also in a way that might draw more attention to their plight. [I]n a country like ours where you know the values we hold dear. You think that the people who have come here, born here, go to school here, would abide by those values and outlooks. The frightening part is that people can be so radicalized either by contact with somebody else or through the internet...I can see I suppose to a certain extent, some aspect of this radicalization is a search for adventure and excitement at a particular age."
The Prince has said, in that last sentence, that the state has failed all these people that it allowed in through its quest for diversity and tolerance and multicultarism. And he's dead-on target. Great Britain has let them in, but has not ensured, in any way, that they will respect and abide by British values.
Just when you thought the Prince could get no better, he spoke with the new leader of Saudi Arabia, King Salman. Charles introduced the subject of the blogger of Raif al-Badawi who was sentenced to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes to be administered over the course of twenty weeks, all for the crime of "insulting Islam through electronic channels". Al-Badawi's health has deteriorated rapidly since the first 50 lashes were administered and if the whole 1,000 are carried out, it is unlikely that he would survive. That would be ironic considering that al-Badawi was spared the death penalty as he was cleared of the charge of apostasy in 2013.
Amnesty International has condemned al-Badawi's punishment and praised Prince Charles for approaching the subject with the Saudi king. Did the Dear Leader, Barack Hussein Obama, bring up al-Badawi's case when he attended the funeral of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, as his wife Marxist Moo-chelle huffed and puffed and pouted? Seriously, go to Google, type in "Obama Raif al-Badawi" and you will find nothing. Cue the crickets.
You see, dear reader, Prince Charles seems to take seriously his standing as a major representative of Britain, even though he is, in reality, a mere figurehead. He uses his standing to advance the cause of human rights for Christians and liberal Muslims. It would be nice to have a leader like this, wouldn't it? But aside from the Orange Man inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to speak at a joint session of Congress, I can't think of any opposition to the Terrorist-Sympathizer-in-Chief's agenda.
It's time we took "Leader of the Free World" away from the holier-than-thou, so-called President and gave it to Prince Charles. With his actions and words this month, he's earned it in a way that we can only dream of Obama doing.

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