Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
name	Edi Rama
order	Mayor of Tirana
term start	October 2000
term end	July 2011
predecessor	Albert Brojka
successor	Lulzim Basha
order2	Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports
primeminister2	Fatos Nano
term start2	1998
term end2	2000
prime minister2	Pandeli Majko
birth date	July 04, 1964
birth place	Tirana, Albania
nationality	Albanian
party	Socialist Party of Albania
spouse	Matilda Makoci (div.)Linda Basha

Edi Kristaq Rama (born 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, publicist, professor, and former athlete. Currently he is the leader of the Socialist Party of Albania, the biggest party in Albania , by wining the most of votes as a party in the last eight election.

He has served as board member at the local Soros Open Society Foundation, president of the Association of Mayors of Albania, and as Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports of Albania. Edi Rama was Mayor of Tirana for three terms from 2000 to 2011. He is married to Linda (short for Lindita) Rama (née Basha).

Personal history

Edi Rama was born to Kristaq Rama, a native of Durres and renown sculptor, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate in medicine. As a teenager Rama got involved in sports by becoming a player of a leading basketball team. Following the collapse of Communism in Albania, he became involved with the first democratic movements. He entered the newly formed Democratic Party (DP) but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with the party leader, Sali Berisha. At the same time, he published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione, while being a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania. During this time, he got engaged and later married actress Matilda Makoci, with whom he had a son, Gregor Rama. He separated from Makoci and after suffering severe injuries in the head from unknown attackers in a physical assault, he decided to emigrate abroad. Upon arriving in France, he conducted the life of an artist by taking part in many exhibitions with his close friend, Anri Sala. In 1998, he was convened by then Prime Minister Fatos Nano and asked to become Minister of Culture of Albania. He accepted and immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways. In October 2000, he entered and won the race for the Tirana mayorship as Socialist Party candidate against writer Besnik Mustafaj. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign to return many portions of Tirana's center and Lana River into their original forms by demolishing hundreds of illegal buildings. In 2003, he won a second term by defeating lawyer Spartak Ngjela, and a third consecutive term by beating DP candidate Sokol Olldashi.

In October 2005, Rama became the leader of the Socialist Party of Albania following the resignation of Fatos Nano. As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. In 2010 he married Linda Basha, a civil society activist. In the 2011 local elections he lost by a small margin to the Coalition of the Citizen candidate, Lulzim Basha.

Life as a painter

Rama is also author of several personal painting exhibitions in Europe, North and South America, and other. Personal exhibitions include Janos Gallery , New York (1993), Place de Mediatheque, France (1995), Palais Jalta, Frankfurt (1997), Acud, Berlin (1993), São Paulo, Brazil (1994), National Gallery, Albania (1992) and Gallery XXI, Albania (1999). He is no longer active as an artist.

In 2009, Rama published personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama.

Impact on Tirana

The most noted impact of Rama has been the many kiosk demolitions in the city since he took over. In an attempt to widen roads, he has authorized the bulldozing of private properties so that they can be paved over, thus widening streets. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition. Rama's ''Return to Identity'' project rid the city of many illegally constructed buildings on municipal lands such as local parks and the banks of the Lana. His ''Clean and Green'' project in 2000 resulted in the production of 96,700 square metres of green land and parks in the city and the planting of nearly 1,800 trees. He also ordered the painting of many old buildings in what has come to be known as Edi Rama colours (very bright yellow, green, violet). Rama's critics claim that he is focusing too much attention on cosmetic changes without fixing any of the major problems such as shortages of drinking water and electricity.

Rama, a former artist, had this to say about his work as mayor: "It's the most exciting job in the world, because I get to invent and to fight for good causes everyday. Being the mayor of Tirana is the highest form of conceptual art. It's art in a pure state."

In December 2004, Rama was named the World Mayor 2004, in an international competition that took place over one year, based on direct voting by Internet, organized by the non-commercial organization CITYMAYORS, located in London.

Rama was chosen by Time Magazine to be one of the 2005 European Heroes, a tribute given by the Magazine to 37 people who are changing the world for the better.

Political life in Socialist Party

Edi Rama is also the head of the left wing in Albania. He became head of SPA in October 2005. In the 2009 elections, SPA was the most voted party, but got only 65 seats on the parliament out of 140 because of the electoral system. SMI and DPA formed a coalition and a government, while SPA started a few protests for "the transparency of vote". Nowadays, the SPA members of the parliament have joined the Parliament sessions and co-work with their right-wing colleagues. Rama is being criticized by a group of SPA politicians like Ben Blushi, Kastriot Islami and Andis Harasani of leading the party without collaborators. These accusations may be because SPA is the only left party to not have a Secretary General. However, the second-most-powerful person in SPA is 59 year old Gramoz Ruçi, the head of the Parliamentarian group.

See also

Mayor of Tirana

Tirana

References

External links

Personal website

Municipality of Tirana

Edi Rama as artist

Edi Rama on the song Tirona

Edi Rama news (in Albanian)

News articles

Edi Rama wins the 2004 World Mayor Award

CityMayors article

Edi Rama: European Heroes 2005 by Time Magazine

Regeneration man

The mayor transforming Tirana

You’ve got to tear this old building down

Further reading

Budini, Belina. ''Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press, 2009. ISBN 978-99956-39-11-2

Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Albanian politicians Category:Harvard University staff Category:Mayors of Tirana Category:University of Massachusetts Boston faculty

als:Edi Rama ca:Edi Rama da:Edi Rama de:Edi Rama et:Edi Rama es:Edi Rama fr:Edi Rama hi:एदि रामा it:Edi Rama lv:Edi Rama mk:Еди Рама nl:Edi Rama pl:Edi Rama pt:Edi Rama ro:Edi Rama ru:Рама, Эди sq:Edi Rama sr:Edi Rama sh:Edi Rama fi:Edi Rama sv:Edi Rama

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid Urdu: سید زید الزمان حامد
Birth date	March 14, 1964
Residence	Rawalpindi
Nationality	Pakistan
Other names	Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid
Known for	BrassTacks TV Series & Leader: Takmeel-e-Pakistan Movement
Occupation	Security Consultant & Political commentator
Religion	Islam
Website	Official Site Profile Page }}

Syed Zaiduzzaman Hamid, better known as Zaid Hamid, is a Pakistani security consultant and political commentator. His byline in newspaper articles has been Zaid Zaman.

Early life and education

Zaid was born in Karachi, in 1964. His father, Col. Zaman Hamid (Retd), served in the Pakistan Army. Zaid spent his early life in Karachi. He received a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Computer Systems Engineering from NED University, Karachi in 1980's.

Political views

Through his TV programmes, Hamid has claimed that a nexus between India's RAW, the CIA and is responsible for the destabilization of Pakistan. He also claims that the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, were part of a plan hatched by "Hindu Zionists"", and that it was an attempt by the Indians to stage an attack just like the Americans executed the September 11 attacks.

He has stated that the 2010 Pakistan floods were caused by India releasing water from its rivers flowing into Pakistan this was based on the fact On August 21st, Pakistani media reported that India released 18000 caused water into the river Ravi. India has release 18000-cusec water in river Ravi that could cause flood in five drainage of Narowal and Shaker Garh, He further went on to ask India for compensation for the floods and the damage caused.

Criticism

A number of noted Pakistani journalists, writers and Islamic scholars have criticized Hamid and have described his views on politics and security as conspiracy theories.

Some of his conspiracy theories include:

1. The adoption of the gold standard was a Zionist and International Bankers plot

2. Militants fighting the Army during the Swat during 2009 Military Operation because they are uncircumcised.

3. The flag of Pakistan will fly atop Delhi Fort one day

4. The 2008 Mumbai attacks were hatched by “Hindu Zionists” and to assinate senior Mumbai police officers investigating Hindu Extremist

5. 9/11 was inside job

References

External links

BrassTacks website

Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid

Category:9/11 conspiracy theorists Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Living people Category:Pashtun people Category:Pakistani scholars Category:International relations scholars Category:1964 births Category:People from Karachi Category:NED University of Engineering and Technology alumni Category:Pakistani political consultants Category:Pakistani political scientists

ur:زید حامد

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	John Yoo
Birth date	July 10, 1967
Birth place	Seoul, South Korea
Known for	Legal views on warrantless searches, domestic surveillance, torture memos (also known as "enhanced interrogation techniques") and expansive executive power
Alma mater	Harvard University, B.A. Yale Law School, J.D.
Occupation	Law professor, former official in the United States Department of Justice
Title	Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice
Term	2001 to 2003
Spouse	Elsa Arnett
Awards	Federalist Society Paul M. Bator Award (2001)
Footnotes	}}

John Choon Yoo (born July 10, 1967) is an American attorney, law professor, and author. As a former official in the United States Department of Justice during the George W. Bush administration, he became known as the author of the Torture Memos on the use of what the CIA called enhanced interrogation techniques.

Career

Yoo has been a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Law (Boalt Hall) since 1993. He authored two books on presidential power and the war on terrorism, as well as numerous journal and newspaper articles. He has held the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Trento and has also been a visiting law professor at the Free University of Amsterdam, the University of Chicago, and Chapman University School of Law. Since 2003, Yoo has also worked as a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. He also writes a monthly column, entitled "Closing Arguments", for ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', and is the author of the book ''Crisis and Command''.

Yoo was a law clerk for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He also served for a time as general counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Yoo is best known for his work from 2001 to 2003 in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) under the George W. Bush Administration. In the Justice Department, Yoo's expansive view of presidential power led to a close relationship with the office of Vice President Dick Cheney. Yoo played a significant role in developing a legal justification for the Bush Administration's policy in the war on terrorism, arguing that prisoner of war status under the Geneva Conventions does not apply to "enemy combatants" captured during the War in Afghanistan and held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, asserting executive authority to undertake waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques" regarded as torture by the current Justice Department. Yoo further argued that the president was not bound by the War Crimes Act and provided a legal opinion backing the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

Yoo's legal opinions were not shared by some within the Bush Administration. Secretary of State Colin Powell strongly opposed what he saw as an invalidation of the Geneva Conventions, while U.S. Navy general counsel Alberto Mora campaigned internally against what he saw as the "catastrophically poor legal reasoning" and dangerous extremism of Yoo's legal opinions. In December 2003, Yoo's memo on permissible interrogation techniques, also known as the Bybee memo, was repudiated as legally unsound by the OLC, then under the direction of Jack Goldsmith. In June 2004, another of Yoo's memos on interrogation techniques was leaked to the press, after which it was repudiated by Goldsmith and the OLC.

Yoo's contribution to these memos has remained a source of controversy after his departure from the Justice Department; he was called to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in 2008 in defense of his role. The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility began investigating Yoo's work in 2004 and in July 2009 completed a report that was sharply critical of his legal justification for waterboarding and other interrogation techniques. The OPR report cites testimony Yoo gave to Justice Department investigators where he claims that the "president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be 'massacred'" The OPR report concluded that Yoo had "committed 'intentional professional misconduct' when he advised the CIA it could proceed with waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques against Al Qaeda suspects," although the recommendation that he be referred to his state bar association for possible disciplinary proceedings was overruled by David Margolis, another senior Justice department lawyer. In 2009, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón Real launched an investigation of Yoo and five others, (known as The Bush Six) for war crimes.

Biography

Yoo emigrated with his parents from South Korea to the United States as an infant. He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduating from the Episcopal Academy in 1985. He earned a B.A. degree summa cum laude in American history from Harvard University in 1989 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1992. Yoo was admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania in 1993. From 1995 to 1996, he was general counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee. Yoo is an active member of the Federalist Society. He is married to Elsa Arnett, the daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Peter Arnett.

Publications

Yoo's writings and areas of interest fall into three broad areas: American foreign relations; the Constitution's separation of powers and federalism; and international law. In foreign relations, Yoo has argued that the original understanding of the Constitution gives the President the authority to use armed force abroad without congressional authorization, subject to Congress's power of the purse; that treaties do not generally have domestic legal force without implementing legislation; and that courts are functionally ill-suited to intervene in foreign policy disputes between the President and Congress. With the separation of powers, Yoo has argued that each branch of government has the authority to interpret the Constitution for itself, which provides the justification for judicial review by the federal courts. In international law, Yoo has written that the rules governing the use of force must be understood to allow nations to engage in armed intervention to end humanitarian disasters, rebuild failed states, and stop terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Yoo's academic work also includes his analysis of the history of judicial review in the U.S. Constitution. Yoo's book, ''The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11'', was praised in an Op-Ed in ''The Washington Times'', written by Nicholas J. Xenakis, an assistant editor at ''The National Interest''. It was quoted by Senator Joe Biden during the Senate hearings for then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, who "pressed Alito to denounce John Yoo's controversial defense of presidential initiative in taking the nation to war." Yoo is known as a public opponent of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Yoo has authored three books:

He has also contributed chapters to other books, including:

Legal opinions

Regarding torture of detainees and children of detainees

After he left the Department of Justice, it was revealed that Yoo had authored memos, including co-authoring the Torture Memo defining torture and American habeas corpus obligations narrowly. In addition, a new definition of torture was issued. Most actions that fall under the international definition do not fall within this new definition advocated by the U.S. Several top military lawyers, including Alberto J. Mora, reported that policies allowing methods equivalent to torture were officially handed down from the highest levels of the administration, and led an effort within the Department of Defense to put a stop to those policies and instead mandate non-coercive interrogation standards.

On December 1, 2005, Yoo appeared in a debate in Chicago with University of Notre Dame law professor Doug Cassel. During the debate Cassel asked Yoo, "If the President deems that he's got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's child, there is no law that can stop him?", to which Yoo replied "No treaty." Cassel followed up with "Also no law by Congress — that is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo...", to which Yoo replied "I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that."

On June 26, 2008, Yoo and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and former counsel David Addington testified before the House Judiciary Committee in a contentious hearing on detainee treatment, interrogation methods and the extent of executive branch authority. In this hearing, Rep. John Conyers repeatedly asked Yoo to clarify his remarks on the presidential power to authorize torture:

Regarding the Fourth amendment

Yoo also authored the October 23, 2001 memo asserting that the President had sufficient power to allow the NSA to monitor the communications of US citizens on US soil without a warrant because the fourth amendment does not apply. Or, as another memo says in one of its footnotes, "Our office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations." That interpretation is used to assert that the normal mandatory requirement of a warrant, under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, could be ignored.

In a 2006 book and a 2007 law review article, Yoo defended President Bush's terrorist surveillance program, arguing that "the TSP represents a valid exercise of the President's Commander-in-Chief authority to gather intelligence during wartime." He claimed that critics of the program misunderstand the separation of powers between the President and Congress in wartime because of a failure to properly understand the differences between war and crime, and a difficulty in understanding the new challenges presented by a networked, dynamic enemy such as al Qaeda. "Because the United States is at war with al Qaeda, the President possesses the constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief to engage in warrantless surveillance of enemy activity." In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece in July 2009, Yoo found it "absurd to think that a law like FISA should restrict live military operations against potential attacks on the United States."

Unitary executive theory

Yoo suggested that since the primary task of the President during a time of war is protecting US citizens, the President has inherent authority to subordinate independent government agencies, and plenary power to use force abroad. Yoo contends that the Congressional check on Presidential war making power comes from its power of the purse, and that the President, and not the Congress or courts, has sole authority to interpret international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions "because treaty interpretation is a key feature of the conduct of foreign affairs". His positions on executive power are controversial because the theory can be interpreted as holding that the President's war powers place him above any law.

In the Clinton administration

Yoo was a strong critic of what he viewed as the Clinton administration's use of the powers of what he termed the "Imperial Presidency". For instance, Yoo wrote:

Yet, Yoo has defended both Republican and Democratic Presidents, including President Clinton, in their decisions to use force abroad without congressional authorization. He wrote in ''The Wall Street Journal'' on March 15, 1999 that Clinton's decision to attack Serbia was constitutional, and criticized Democrats in Congress for not suing Clinton as they had sued Presidents Bush and Reagan to stop the war:

Yoo further stated, in regard to the Clinton administration's use of executive power:

Yoo declared in 2000, at a conference regarding executive power:

Yoo has been a defender of executive privilege, but only for protecting national security, diplomatic and military secrets. He criticized the Clinton administration for misusing the privilege to protect the personal, rather than official, activities of the President, in the Monica Lewinsky affair:

Yoo also criticized President Clinton for contemplating the defiance of a judicial order. Yoo suggested that Presidents could act in conflict with the Supreme Court, but that such measures were justified only during emergencies, and not to defend against a President's personal sexual affairs:

In the George W. Bush administration

Following his tenure as an appointee of the George W. Bush Administration, Yoo criticized certain views on the separation of powers doctrine as allegedly being historically inaccurate and problematic for the Global War on Terrorism, stating, for instance:

and

War crimes accusations

Glenn Greenwald has argued that Yoo could potentially be indicted for crimes against the laws and customs of war, the crime of torture, and/or crimes against humanity. Criminal proceedings to this end have begun in Spain: in a move that could lead to an extradition request, Judge Baltasar Garzón in March 2009 referred a case against Yoo to the chief prosecutor.

On November 14, 2006, invoking the principle of command responsibility, German attorney Wolfgang Kaleck filed a complaint with the German Federal Attorney General (''Generalbundesanwalt'') against Yoo, along with 13 others for his alleged complicity in torture and other crimes against humanity at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay. Wolfgang Kaleck acted on behalf of 11 alleged victims of torture and other human rights abuses, as well as about 30 human rights activists and organizations. The co-plaintiffs to the war crimes prosecution included Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Martín Almada, Theo van Boven, Sister Dianna Ortiz, and Veterans for Peace. Responding to the so-called "torture memoranda" Scott Horton pointed out

the possibility that the authors of these memoranda counseled the use of lethal and unlawful techniques, and therefore face criminal culpability themselves. That, after all, is the teaching of ''United States v. Altstötter'', the Nuremberg case brought against German Justice Department lawyers whose memoranda crafted the basis for implementation of the infamous "Night and Fog Decree."

Legal scholars speculated shortly thereafter that the case has little chance of successfully making it through the German court system.

Jordan Paust of the University of Houston Law Center concurred, responding to Attorney General Mukasey's refusal to investigate and/or prosecute anyone that relied on these legal opinions:

it is legally and morally impossible for any member of the executive branch to be acting lawfully or within the scope of his or her authority while following OLC opinions that are manifestly inconsistent with or violative of the law. General Mukasey, just following orders is no defense!

On January 4, 2008, John Yoo was sued in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Case Number 08-cv-00035-JSW) by José Padilla and his mother. The complaint seeks $1 in damages based on the alleged torture of Padilla attributed by the complaint to Yoo's torture memoranda. Judge Jeffrey S. White allowed the suit to proceed, rejecting all but one of Yoo's immunity claims. Padilla's lawyer says White's ruling could have a broad impact for all detainees.

Yoo's torture memoranda had been almost immediately retracted by Jack Goldsmith upon his October 2003 assumption of the duties of chief of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice. The Padilla complaint, on page 20, cites Goldsmith's 2007 book ''The Terror Presidency'' in support of its case. Goldsmith's book and his interviews while marketing the book claimed that the legal analysis in Yoo's torture memoranda was incorrect and that there was widespread opposition to the memoranda among some lawyers in the Justice Department, providing the basis for the lawsuit. The claim is that Yoo caused Padilla's damages by authorizing his alleged torture through his memoranda.

Retired Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, General Colin Powell's former chief of staff (in both the Persian Gulf War and while Powell was Secretary of State in the Bush Administration), has stated the following regarding Yoo: "Haynes, Feith, Yoo, Bybee, Gonzales and — at the apex — Addington, should never travel outside the US, except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel. They broke the law; they violated their professional ethical code. In the future, some government may build the case necessary to prosecute them in a foreign court, or in an international court."

Office of Professional Responsibility Report

The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility concluded in a 261 page report dated July 29, 2009 that Yoo committed "intentional professional misconduct" when he "knowingly failed to provide a thorough, objective, and candid interpretation of the law" and recommended a referral to the Pennsylvania Bar for disciplinary action. However, career Justice department lawyer David Margolis in a Memorandum dated January 5, 2010 countermanded the recommended referral. While Margolis was careful to avoid "an endorsement of the legal work" which he said was "flawed" and "contained errors more than minor" concluding that Yoo had exercised "poor judgment," still he did not find "professional misconduct" sufficient to authorize OPR "to refer its findings to the state bar disciplinary authorities." Yoo contended that the Office of Professional Responsibility had manifested "rank bias and sheer incompetence," intended to "smear my reputation," and that Margolis "completely rejected its recommendations."

See also

Extraordinary rendition by the United States

Jay Bybee

The Imperial Presidency

U.S. Army and CIA interrogation manuals

List of federal political scandals in the United States

References

External links

Category:1967 births Category:American Enterprise Institute Category:American foreign policy writers Category:American legal scholars Category:American legal writers Category:American political writers Category:American politicians of Korean descent Category:George W. Bush administration controversies Category:George W. Bush Administration personnel Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Korean emigrants to the United States Category:Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Category:Living people Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty Category:War on Terror Category:Yale Law School alumni

fr:John Yoo ko:존 유

This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "''the Great''", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as ''e Bozorg'' and ''e azam'' in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus) assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "''the Great''".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Abbas I of Persia (1571-1629), Shah of Iran

Akbar (1542-1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India

Alain I of Albret (1440-1522), French aristocrat

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia

Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia

Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias

Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex

Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire

Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty

Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),

Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire

Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand

Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736-1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)

Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden

Casimir III the Great (1310-1370), King of Poland

Catherine the Great (1729-1796), Empress of Russian

Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India

Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans

Chulalongkorn (1853-1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)

Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks

Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen

Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman Emperor

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire

Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire

Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent

Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse

Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile

Frederick the Great (1712-1786), King of Prussia

Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594-1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader

Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea

Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC

Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)

Henry IV of France (1553-1610), King of France and King of Navarre

Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea

Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris

Hugh Magnus of France (1007-1025), co-King of France

Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057-1101)

Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat

Ivan III of Russia (1440-1505), Tsar of Russia

John I of Portugal (1358-1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve

John II of Aragon (1398-1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre

Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor

Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i

Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India

Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010-1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia

Kublai Khan (1215-1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty

Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales

Louis I of Hungary (1326-1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland

Mangrai the Great (1238-1317), Lanna, northern Thailand

Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), Emperor of Japan

Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)

Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)

Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom

Mstislav I of Kiev (1076-1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus

Narai (1633-1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)

Naresuan (1555-1605), King of Ayutthaya

Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)

K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque

Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia

Peter the Great (1672-1725), Tsar of Russia

Peter III of Aragon (1239-1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily

Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar

Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar

Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.

Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014-1044), Tamil King of India

Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt

Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082-1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties

Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)

Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev

Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent

Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre

Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire

Sejong the Great (1397-1450), Korean king

Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia

Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire

Stephen III of Moldavia (1433-1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks

Taksin (1734-1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)

Timur (1336-1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty

Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie

Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire

Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor

Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia

Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia

Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131-1182), King of Denmark

Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor

Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus

Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy

William I, Count of Burgundy (1020-1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon

William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou

Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)

Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures

Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East

Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia

Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian

Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt

Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader

Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)

Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint

Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)

Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit

Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)

Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople

William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies

Emmy the Great, folk singer

Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III

Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

Epithet

List of monarchs by nickname

List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I

James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus

Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater

Notes

Category:Monarchs Great, List of people known as The Category:Greatest Nationals Category:Epithets

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Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Brigitte Gabriel
Other names	Nour Saman(alternative nom de plume)
Birth date	October 21, 1964
Birth place	Marjayoun, Marjeyoun District, Lebanon
Occupation	AuthorActivist
Years active	1986-present
Website	American Congress for Truth, ACT! for America }}

Brigitte Gabriel (a.k.a. Nour Saman, born October 21, 1964) is the pseudonym, of a Lebanese American journalist, author, and activist. Gabriel says that Islam keeps countries backward, and that it teaches terrorism. In order to promote such views, Gabriel founded the American Congress For Truth and ACT! for America so that citizens may "fearlessly speak out in defense of America, Israel and Western civilization."

She frequently speaks at American conservative-leaning organizations such as The Heritage Foundation, Christians United for Israel, Evangelicals and Jewish groups.

Stephen Lee, the publicist at St. Martins Press for Gabriel’s second book, called her views "extreme". Gabriel said she gives voice to "what many in America are thinking but afraid to say out loud, for fear of being labeled a racist, bigot, Islamophobic, or intolerant."

Early life

Brigitte Gabriel was born in the Marjayoun District in Lebanon to a Christian family.

Gabriel recalls that during the Lebanese Civil War, militants launched an assault on a Lebanese military base near her family's house and bombed her home, and consequently she and her parents were forced to live in an 8'x10' bomb shelter underground for seven years with only a small kerosene heater, no sanitary systems, no electricity or running water and little food. To get water she states that she had to crawl in a ditch alongside a road to a spring in order to evade Muslim snipers.

Later, in 1978, Gabriel says a man warned her family of an impending attack on Christians by militias. She says that her life was saved that night when Israelis invaded Lebanon in Operation Litani. Later, when her mother was seriously injured and was taken to an Israeli hospital, Gabriel noted the humanity of the Israelis in contrast to the propaganda against the Jews she says she saw as a child.

Critics of Gabriel complain that her biographical account is riddled with factual inaccuracies. While she claims that she lived for seven years in a bomb shelter, her former neighbors in Marjayoun recall that her family, like others in the village, might have spent a few nights in their shelter or basement at times, but that they otherwise lived relatively normallygiven 'the situation' of the Israeli occupation. Gabriel, however, says that her home was destroyed by a shell in a militant attack, and that the bomb shelter was all that remained.

Gabriel also used to tell audiences that Hezbollah was the group that terrorized her family for the seven years between 1975 and 1982. She stopped making this claim after people objected, pointing out that Hezbollah was formed after she left Lebanon, as a direct result of the Israeli invasion and occupation of 1982.

After graduating from high school, Gabriel completed a one-year business administration course at a YWCA in 1984.

Career

Using the name Nour Saman, Gabriel was a news anchor for ''World News'', an Arabic-language evening news broadcast of Middle East Television, a Marjayoun-based station that was run by the now defunct SLA and funded by Israel. Broadcast in Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, through her work there, Gabriel covered the Israeli withdrawal from central Lebanon, the Israeli Security Zone (occupied South Lebanon), and the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza. The television station moved to Cyprus for a time and was later purchased by Pat Robertson. Gabriel moved to Israel before immigrating to the United States in 1989 where she founded a television production, marketing and advertising agency.

According to the Center for International Policy (CIP), Gabriel, "has made a post-9/11 career out of roundly denouncing Islam, decrying 'political correctness,' and promoting the concept of an existential clash of cultures. The CIP aso states that, "Her pro-Israel, anti-Islam spiel, coupled with her compelling personal history, has made her a popular speaker, writer, and general 'expert.' She appears sometimes as a commentator on television news and radio programs, often speaking out for the rights of Muslim women."

''ACT! For America'' and ''American Congress for Truth''

Gabriel is the founder of ''ACT! for America'', a non-profit issues advocacy organization. ''ACT! for America'' has hundreds of chapters across America and members in 20 countries outside of America. She is also the founder of ''American Congress for Truth'', a non-profit organization which denounces Islamic fundamentalism.

Other affiliations

Gabriel is also a member of the Board of Advisors of The Intelligence Summit and lectures nationally and internationally on Global Terrorism. She has addressed former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, Members of the U.S. Congress, The Joint Forces Staff College, The United States Special Operations Command, the FBI and members of the House of Commons in London.

Gabriel is listed as a member of the Hasbara Fellowship Speakers Bureau, a pro-Israeli advocacy group, on their website; but has denied being a member of that organization.

Authorship

Gabriel is the author of two books: ''Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America'', and ''They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It''. She is a regular guest analyst on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC and various radio stations daily across America.

''Because They Hate''

In her first book Gabriel discusses her experiences as a Maronite (Eastern Catholic) Christian living in Lebanon during the civil war in the 1970s. She describes the story of her family and her childhood, hiding in a bomb shelter. She details her opinions that her country's inherent multicultural acceptance of all faiths and cultures including the then dominant Lebanese Christian phalangists, led to Lebanon's ruin by the continuous attacks from indigenous Muslims, other Christian groups and migrant Palestinians.

Gabriel comments that "anyone who voices his or her opinion contrary to 'politically correct think' is immediately tagged" a "racist" or "bigot" and that this has resulted in a "social paranoia which discourages free thought and expression." Moreover, she states that societies and cultures must be held accountable for their actions and that "by not judging others... we have helped create the monsters we are dealing with today."

The book made ''The New York Times'' hardcover best seller list. According to the introduction of the 2008 edition of ''Because They Hate'', the book was put on the reading list at the FBI Academy and was assigned as mandatory reading for Navy SEALs heading to the Middle East.

''They Must Be Stopped''

"We, as infidels in the eyes of our enemy, need to understand the danger we face: A totalitarian ideology — whether its origin is mainstream or marginal — threatens to enslave, dominate, and murder us in order to realize its vision for global conquest."

Viewpoints

Opinions on Islam

Gabriel is critical of Islam and believes that "the degraded state of Arab societies is caused by Islam", and that Arab Muslims are "lagging behind" because of social and religious values. She considers "Islamic terrorists" simply as devout followers of Islam, following an example set by Muhammad's behavior. According to the New York Times, she portrays Islam as "thoroughly bent on destruction and domination" and her message is anti-Islam.

Deborah Solomon of the ''New York Times Magazine'', who interviewed Gabriel in August 2008, described her as a "radical Islamophobe."

Gabriel is critical of Americans who "find all sorts of things wrong with America", who "badmouth and put down our culture, government, and country", while having "never experienced life in an oppressive culture or under an oppressive leadership such as is found in the Middle East." She believes that Americans should "acknowledge that our Western culture is.. better than others."

In viewing America as "a powerful and great nation" possessing "superior.. culture and values", Gabriel sees the entitlements that American Western culture has bestowed through "the Judeo-Christian value system" and the ideals of the Founding Fathers, who "worked to establish rights for the individual, rights that did not exist under other forms of government at that time."

According to Gabriel, since Radical Islam views the destruction of Israel alongside the United States as "a parallel strategic objective", she therefore sees the survival of Israel as being of paramount importance as a vanguard of Western culture and as "the only Western-style nation in the Middle East, one that Arabs despise, feel threatened by, and vow to destroy."

In a symposium held in January 2009 titled "Homegrown Jihadis" by ''FrontPage Magazine'', she stated Islam itself "promotes intolerance and violence", and that "Moderate Muslims must organize and engage those enlightened, educated and westernized Muslims in the community to begin a dialogue to discuss the possibility of reform in Islam just as Christianity and Judaism have been reformed."

Arab-Israeli conflict

Gabriel views the Arab-Israeli conflict as being "intractable because the Arab world refuses to accept the right of a Jewish state to exist." This animosity, having once been rooted in Pan-Arabism has evolved, according to Gabriel, into the more sinister spectre of "radical Islamic supremacism" which now appears to seek "bigger game in the West." She cites examples such as the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the rise of Hamas as bringing to the forefront radical Islamic ideologies that are rooted in "religious hatred, humiliation, and resentment" of Israel and the West.

Gabriel believes this can be seen in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict where, in her view, Palestinian nationalism has largely been replaced by "holy obligation" motivating adherents to commit "terrorist murder." She states that the legitimization of Palestinian suicide attacks within Israel has now evolved to where, "Islamists believe that they may commit mass murder anywhere in the world to advance their holy cause." As a result, she believes the world now suffers "from a plague of Islamic terrorism... authored and perfected by the Palestinians."

With regard to the two-state solution, Gabriel states: "Forcing Israel to accept a two-state solution is not going to work unless the Palestinians first are forced to clean up their act and eliminate hatred from their schoolbooks, teach tolerance to their people, and preach acceptance of Israel and the Jews as a neighbor."

Controversy at speaking engagements

When Gabriel was invited to speak as part of a lecture series organized by Duke University's Jewish community in October 2004, many in attendance were angered by her referring to Arabs as "barbarians." The Freeman Centre for Jewish Life at Duke University later apologized for her comments. Following her speech at women's campaign event for the Jewish Federation of Ottawa (JFO) in November 2008, many in attendance registered their protests, leading Mitchell Bellman, president and CEO of the JFO, to write a letter in which he acknowledged that Gabriel made, "unacceptable gross generalizations of Arabs and Muslims," distancing his organization from her views.

In 2007 at the Christians United For Israel annual conference, Gabriel delivered the following speech:

This speech was subsequently criticised by journalist Bruce Wilson as being "hate speech" and stated that Brigitte Gabriel "paints a wide swath of humanity as subhuman", comparing her to Goebbel's Reich.

In March 2011 while being interviewed by Eliot Spitzer on CNN, Gabriel defended the speech stating:

She further added:

See also

Criticism of Islam

Radical Islam

American exceptionalism

Judeo-Christian values

Wafa Sultan

Walid Shoebat

Nonie Darwish

Robert Spencer

Walid Phares

Pamela Geller

References

Bibliography

External links

American Congress For Truth website

Presentation to the Heritage Foundation

"Polarized points of view", National Post

Brigitte Gabriel's article about her lecture in Memphis: Muslims Muzzling Memphis

Video

''Because They Hate'' presentation to Heritage Foundation

Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:American journalists Category:American Maronites Category:American people of Lebanese descent Category:Opposition to Islam in North America Category:Criticism of Islam Category:Lebanese emigrants to the United States Category:Lebanese journalists Category:Lebanese Maronites Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from South Lebanon Category:Conservatism in the United States

it:Brigitte Gabriel he:בריג'יט גבריאל nl:Brigitte Gabriel pt:Brigitte Gabriel