Somali, Brunei Pentagon allies ban Christmas

This video about Los Angeles in the USA says about itself:

Breaking Up With The Beverly Hills Hotel

12 February 2013

Dear Beverly Hills Hotel:

It’s over. And we are never, ever getting back together. Like ever.
That is, until your owners change their homophobic ways.
The Beverly Hills Hotel is owned by the nation of Brunei, where it is illegal to be gay.
Take a stand against homophobia — don’t eat, meet or sleep at the Beverly Hills Hotel!

Sign the petition here.

Homosexuality is illegal in Brunei and can be punished with up to death by stoning.

As this blog reported, the absolute monarch of Brunei has banned Christmas.

The princely dynasty of Brunei are traditionally allies of the British empire. The present Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah was educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom. Like his father, he has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, of which Brunei was a protectorate until 1984. He holds an honorary commission in the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom as an Air Marshal. He is also an Honorary Admiral of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, a title given to him by Queen Elizabeth II when he took the salute at the passing out parade of the 2001 summer term at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, the Royal Navy’s officer-training school in the United Kingdom. He has an English residence at Binfield Manor in Berkshire. In 1962, a rebellion against absolute monarchy in Brunei was put down by British troops from Singapore.

The full title of His Majesty is Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan dan Yang di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam.

The princely family has been accused of sexual abuse.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is one of the richest men in the world. The spoils of the country’s oil riches are shared between His Majesty and the Shell oil corporation.

The United Kingdom maintains a military base in Seria, the centre of the oil industry in Brunei, with 1,500 soldiers.

To make a long story short: the absolute monarch is Brunei is a staunch ally of the British ~~empire~~ … err … Commonwealth, of NATO, and of the Western ‘free world’.

Apparently, it is very possible to be both a close buddy of the Western ‘free world’, and to ban Christmas.

There is another example of that. Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

In Somalia it is prohibited from this year on to celebrate Christmas in public places. … “In our country Muslims should not celebrate Christmas“, said a government spokesman.

The security forces in Somalia are instructed to drive away large groups celebrating Christmas. For foreigners it is allowed to dwell on the Christian holidays, provided they do so in private.

There are few Christians living in the African country, which established sharia law in 2009. Somalia is after Brunei the second country to enact a ban on Christmas. In Brunei Muslims who celebrate Christmas face many years of imprisonment.

The Somali government consists of warlords, relying on military help from the United States Pentagon, British armed forces and other NATO countries, ever since the days of George W Bush.

This 2013 video says about itself:

Somalia jails alleged rape victim

In Somalia a woman who said that she had been gang-raped by soldiers has been jailed for a year by a Somali court, along with the journalist who reported her allegation.

Non-Christians at Christmas: ‘I love it as much as I love Diwali’. From Jews dining in Chinese restaurants to atheists indulging in Belgian beer, non-Christian readers tell us what they do at Christmas: here.