By using this website (the "Site"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and to use the Site in accordance with these Terms of Service, our Privacy Notice, and any additional terms and conditions that are referenced herein or that otherwise may apply to specific sections of the Site, or to products and services that we make available to you through the Site (all of which are deemed part of these Terms of Service). Accessing the Site, in any manner, whether automated or otherwise, constitutes use of the Site and your agreement to be bound by these Terms of Service.
We reserve the right to change these Terms of Service or to impose new conditions on use of the Site, from time to time, in which case we will post the revised Terms of Service on this website and update the "Last Updated" date to reflect the date of the changes. By continuing to use the Site after we post any such changes, you accept the Terms of Service, as modified.
We also reserve the right to deny access to the Site or any features of the Site to anyone who violates these Terms of Service or who, in our sole judgment, interferes with the ability of others to enjoy our website or infringes the rights of others.
Rights and Restrictions Relating to Site Content
Your Limited Right to Use Site Materials.
This Site and all the materials available on the Site are the property of us and/or our affiliates or licensors, and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. The Site is provided solely for your personal noncommercial use. You may not use the Site or the materials available on the Site in a manner that constitutes an infringement of our rights or that has not been authorized by us. More specifically, unless explicitly authorized in these Terms of Service or by the owner of the materials, you may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, translate, sell, create derivative works, exploit, or distribute in any manner or medium (including by email or other electronic means) any material from the Site. You may, however, from time to time, download and/or print one copy of individual pages of the Site for your personal, non-commercial use, provided that you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. For information about requesting permission to reproduce or distribute materials from the Site, please contact us.
Our Right to Use Materials You Submit or Post.
When you submit or post any material via the Site, you grant us, and anyone authorized by us, a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, copy, modify, transmit, sell, exploit, create derivative works from, distribute, and/or publicly perform or display such material, in whole or in part, in any manner or medium (whether now known or hereafter developed), for any purpose that we choose. The foregoing grant includes the right to exploit any proprietary rights in such posting or submission, including, but not limited to, rights under copyright, trademark or patent laws that exist in any relevant jurisdiction. Also, in connection with the exercise of these rights, you grant us, and anyone authorized by us, the right to identify you as the author of any of your postings or submissions by name, email address or screen name, as we deem appropriate. You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the Site, including content submitted by you, may involve transmissions over various networks, and may involve changes to the content to conform and adapt it to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. You will not receive any compensation of any kind for the use of any materials submitted by you.
Limitations on Linking and Framing.
You are free to establish a hypertext link to our Site so long as the link does not state or imply any sponsorship of your website or service by us or by our Site. However, you may not, without our prior written permission, frame or inline link any of the content of our Site, or incorporate into another website or other service any of our material, content or intellectual property.
Site Registration Process
To access certain features of our Site, we may ask you to provide certain demographic information including your gender, year of birth, zip code and country. In addition, if you elect to sign-up for a particular feature of the Site, such as discussion forums, blogs, photo- and video-sharing pages or social networking features, you may also be asked to register with us on the form provided and such registration may require you to provide personally identifiable information such as your name and email address. You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Site's registration form. If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Site (or any portion thereof). Our use of any personally identifiable information you provide to us as part of the registration process is governed by the terms of our Privacy Notice
Responsibility for Your Username and Password
To use certain features of our Site, you will need a username and password, which you will receive through the Site's registration process. We reserve the right to reject or terminate the use of any username that we deem offensive or inappropriate. In addition, we also reserve the right to terminate the use of any username or account, or to deny access to the Site or any features of the Site, to anyone who violates these Terms of Service or who, in our sole judgment, interferes with the ability of others to enjoy our website or infringes the rights of others. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account, and are responsible for all activities (whether by you or by others) that occur under your password or account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and to ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your password or account information.
Online Commerce
Certain sections of this Site may allow you to purchase different types of products and services online that are provided by third parties. We are not responsible for the quality, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or any other aspect of these products and services. If you make a purchase from a merchant on our Site, or on a third-party website that you have accessed via a link on our Site, the information obtained during your visit to that merchant's online store or site, and the information that you give as part of the transaction, such as your credit card number and contact information, may be collected by both the merchant and us. A merchant may have privacy and data collection practices that are different from ours. We have no responsibility or liability for these independent policies. In addition, when you purchase products or services on or through the Site, you may be subject to additional terms and conditions that specifically apply to your purchase or use of such products or services. For more information regarding a merchant, its online store, its privacy policies, and/or any additional terms and conditions that may apply, visit that merchant's website and click on its information links or contact the merchant directly. You release us and our affiliates from any damages that you incur, and agree not to assert any claims against us or any of our affiliates, arising from your purchase or use of any products or services made available by third parties through the Site.
You agree to be financially responsible for all purchases made by you or someone acting on your behalf through the Site. You agree to use the Site, and to purchase services or products through the Site, for legitimate, non-commercial purposes only. You also agree not to make any purchases for speculative, false or fraudulent purposes or for the purpose of anticipating demand for a particular product or service. You agree to only purchase goods or services for yourself or for another person for whom you are legally permitted to do so. When making a purchase for a third party that requires you to submit the third party's personal information to us or a merchant, you represent that you have obtained the express consent of such third party to provide such third party's personal information.
Responsibility for User-Provided Content
This Site may include a variety of features, such as discussion forums, blogs, photo- and video-sharing pages, email services and social networking features that allow feedback to us and allow users to interact with each other on the Site and post content and materials for display on the Site. This Site also may include other features, such as personalized home pages and email services, that allow users to communicate with third parties. By accessing and using any such features, you represent and agree: (i) that you have read and agree to abide by our Community Rules; (ii) that you are the owner of any material you post or submit, or are making your posting or submission with the express consent of the owner of the material; (iii) that you are making your posting or submission with the express consent of anyone pictured in any material you post or submit, (iv) that you are 13 years of age or older; (v) that the materials will not violate the rights of, or cause injury to, any person or entity; and (vi) that you will indemnify and hold harmless us, our affiliates, and each of our and their respective directors, officers, managers, employees, shareholders, agents, representatives and licensors, from and against any liability of any nature arising out of related to any content or materials displayed on or submitted via the Site by you or by others using your username and password. You also grant us a license to use the materials you post or submit via such features, as described above under the header "Rights and Restrictions Relating to Site Content."
Responsibility for what is posted on discussion forums, blogs, photo- and video-sharing pages, and other areas on the Site through which users can supply information or material, or sent via any email services that are made available via the Site, lies with each user – you alone are responsible for the material you post or send. We do not control the messages, information or files that you or others may transmit, post or otherwise provide on or through the Site.
You understand that we have no obligation to monitor any discussion forums, blogs, photo- or video-sharing pages, or other areas of the Site through which users can supply information or material. However, we reserve the right at all times, in our sole discretion, to screen content submitted by users and to edit, move, delete, and/or refuse to accept any content that in our judgment violates these Terms of Service or is otherwise unacceptable or inappropriate, whether for legal or other reasons.
You acknowledge and agree that we may preserve content and materials submitted by you, and may also disclose such content and materials if required to do so by law or if, in our business judgment, such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce these Terms of Service; (c) respond to claims that any content or materials submitted by you violate the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of our Site, us, our affiliates, our officers, directors, employees, representatives, our licensors, other users, and/or the public.
Classified Advertising
When you submit a classified ad for publication on the Site, you agree that the advertisement as it appears on the Site becomes our property and you assign all ownership interest in the advertisement as it appears on the Site under copyright law or otherwise to us. Submission of an advertisement does not constitute a commitment to publish the advertisement, and publication of an advertisement does not constitute an agreement for continued publication. We will accept only standard abbreviations and require proper punctuation. We reserve the right to edit, reclassify, revise, reject or cancel any advertisement at any time, in our sole discretion. Rates and specifications for any advertisement are subject to change.
Privacy
We respect the privacy of the users of our Site. Please take a moment to review our Privacy Notice
Modifications to, or Discontinuation of, the Site
We reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Site, or any portion thereof, with or without notice. You agree that we will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Site or any portion thereof.
Disclaimers
Throughout our Site, we have provided links and pointers to Internet sites maintained by third parties. Our linking to such third-party sites does not imply an endorsement or sponsorship of such sites, or the information, products or services offered on or through the sites. In addition, neither we nor our parent or subsidiary companies nor any of our respective affiliates operate or control in any respect any information, products or services that third parties may provide on or through the Site or on websites linked to by us on the Site.
THE INFORMATION, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED ON OR THROUGH THE SITE AND ANY THIRD-PARTY SITES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE OR ANY OF ITS FUNCTIONS WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT ANY PART OF THIS SITE, INCLUDING BULLETIN BOARDS, OR THE SERVERS THAT MAKE IT AVAILABLE, ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
WE DO NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE SITE OR MATERIALS ON THIS SITE OR ON THIRD-PARTY SITES IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, RELIABILITY OR OTHERWISE.
You must provide and are solely responsible for all hardware and/or software necessary to access the Site. You assume the entire cost of and responsibility for any damage to, and all necessary maintenance, repair or correction of, that hardware and/or software.
The Site is provided for informational purposes only, and is not intended for trading or investing purposes, or for commercial use. Stock and mutual fund quotes, and related financial news stories may be delayed at least 20 minutes, as may be required by the stock exchanges and/or the financial information services. The Site should not be used in any high risk activities where damage or injury to persons, property, environment, finances or business may result if an error occurs. You expressly assume all risk for such use.
Your interactions with companies, organizations and/or individuals found on or through our Site, including any purchases, transactions, or other dealings, and any terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such companies, organizations and/or individuals. You agree that we will not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings. You also agree that, if there is a dispute between users of this Site, or between a user and any third party, we are under no obligation to become involved, and you agree to release us and our affiliates from any claims, demands and damages of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such dispute and/or our Site.
Limitation of Liability
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE, WILL WE OR OUR SUBSIDIARIES, PARENT COMPANIES OR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THIS SITE, INCLUDING ITS MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES, OR THIRD-PARTY MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THIS SITE, EVEN IF WE ARE ADVISED BEFOREHAND OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. (BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN CATEGORIES OF DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH STATES, OUR LIABILITY AND THE LIABILITY OF OUR SUBSIDIARIES, PARENT COMPANIES AND AFFILIATES, IS LIMITED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY SUCH STATE LAW.) YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY USER. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE SITE, OR ANY MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES ON THE SITE, OR WITH ANY OF THE SITE'S TERMS AND CONDITIONS, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THE SITE.
Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless us, our affiliates, and each of our and their respective directors, officers, managers, employees, shareholders, agents, representatives and licensors, from and against any and all losses, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, that arise out of your use of the Site, violation of these Terms of Service by you or any other person using your account, or your violation of any rights of another. We reserve the right to take over the exclusive defense of any claim for which we are entitled to indemnification under this section. In such event, you agree to provide us with such cooperation as is reasonably requested by us.
Suspension and Termination of Access
You agree that, in our sole discretion, we may suspend or terminate your password, account (or any part thereof) or use of the Site, or any part of the Site, and remove and discard any materials that you submit to the Site, at any time, for any reason, without notice. You agree that we will not be liable to you or any third-party for any suspension or termination of your password, account (or any part thereof) or use of the Site, or any removal of any materials that you have submitted to the Site. In the event that we suspend or terminate your access to and/or use of the Site, you will continue to be bound by the Terms of Service that were in effect as of the date of your suspension or termination.
Notice of Copyright Infringement
If you are a copyright owner who believes your copyrighted material has been reproduced, posted or distributed via the Site in a manner that constitutes copyright infringement, please inform our designated copyright agent by sending written notice by U.S. Mail to Westminster Journal c/o Gannett Co., Inc., 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA 22107. Please include the following information in your written notice: (1) a detailed description of the copyrighted work that is allegedly infringed upon; (2) a description of the location of the allegedly infringing material on the Site; (3) your contact information, including your address, telephone number, and, if available, email address; (4) a statement by you indicating that you have a good-faith belief that the allegedly infringing use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; (5) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, affirming that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf; and (6) an electronic or physical signature of the copyright owner or someone authorized on the owner's behalf to assert infringement of copyright and to submit the statement. Please note that the contact information provided in this paragraph is for suspected copyright infringement only. Contact information for other matters is provided elsewhere in these Terms of Service or on the Site.
Other
This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between us and you with respect to the subject matter contained in this agreement and supersedes all previous and contemporaneous agreements, proposals and communications, written oral. You also may be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use the products or services of a third party that are provided through the Site. In the event of any conflict between any such third-party terms and conditions and these Terms of Service, these Terms of Service will govern. This agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law.
This agreement is personal to you and you may not assign it to anyone. If any provision of this agreement is found to be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision will be deemed severable from this agreement and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. These Terms of Service are not intended to benefit any third party, and do not create any third party beneficiaries. Accordingly, these Terms of Service may only be invoked or enforced by you or us. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action that you may have arising out of or related to use of the Site or these Terms of Service must be filed by you within one year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 October 2011 17:35
Hits: 273
Written by Admin
WestminsterJournal was founded in 2007 as a weekly national security update. The site does not charge for access and is supported by advertising revenues.
In 2011 the Westminster Journal moved its publishing headquarters to New York although the Journal’s focus is still mostly European Anglo Saxon.
Every week The Westminster Journal is packed with insightful opinion, commentary and analysis about current affairs, politics, the arts, books, and the big issues of the moment.
The Westminster Journal is incisive, informative and irreverent on a whole range of subjects from politics to the arts. Here you'll read columnists who delight, provoke, amuse and sometimes infuriate.
It’s a weekly delight for anyone who loves good writing, contentious opinions and hard-hitting comment.
Last Updated on Saturday, 03 March 2012 04:05
Hits: 728
We take seriously your interest in how your information is collected and used. Please read the following to learn about our Privacy Notice.
This Privacy Notice discloses the privacy practices of this website (the "Site"). Specifically, it outlines the types of information that we gather about you while you are using the Site, and the ways in which we use and share this information. This Privacy Notice does not apply to any information you may provide to us, or that we may collect, offline and/or through other means (for example, at a live event, via telephone, or through the mail).
Please read this Privacy Notice carefully. By visiting and using the Site, you agree that your use of our Site, and any dispute over our online privacy practices, is governed by this Privacy Notice and our Terms of Service. Because the Web is an evolving medium, we may need to change our Privacy Notice at some point in the future, in which case we'll post the revised Privacy Notice on this website and update the "Last Updated" date to reflect the date of the changes. By continuing to use the Site after we post any such changes, you accept the Privacy Notice as modified.
How We Collect and Use Information
We may collect and store information, including personally identifiable information (such as your name, postal address or email address) or other information, that you voluntarily supply to us while on our Site. Some examples of this type of information include information that you electronically submit when you contact us with questions, information that you post on blogs, discussion forums or other community posting and social networking areas on our Site, and information that you electronically submit when you complete an online registration form to access and use certain features of our Site. We also may ask for information (including a credit card number and other financial information) from those users who make purchases or have payment transactions on our Site. If you decline to supply or provide us with certain information while using the Site, you may not be able to use or participate in some or all of the features offered through the Site.
We also collect, through a variety of technologies and practices, and store non-personally identifiable information that is generated automatically as you navigate through the Site. For example, we may collect information about your computer's connection to the Internet, which allows us, among other things, to improve the delivery of our web pages to you and to measure traffic on the Site. We also may use a standard feature found in browser software called a "cookie" to enhance your experience with the Site. Cookies are small files that your web browser places on your hard drive for record-keeping purposes. By showing how and when visitors use the Site, cookies help us deliver advertisements, identify how many unique users visit us, and track user trends and patterns. They also prevent you from having to re-enter your preferences on certain areas of the Site where you may have entered preference information before. This Site also may use web beacons (single-pixel graphic files also known as "transparent GIFs") to access cookies and to count users who visit the Site or open HTML-formatted email messages.
If you want to limit the non-personally identifiable information that is automatically collected while you use our Site, most Web browsers allow you to disable certain functionality or set certain privacy setting. For example, to disable cookies using Internet Explorer, select "Internet Options" under the Tools menu and click on "Privacy." Select "High" or "Block All Cookies." To disable cookies using Mozilla Firefox, select "Options" under the "Tools" menu. If you choose to disable cookies or turn off other functionality, you may not be able to use or participate in some or all of the features offered through the Site.
The information we collect may be collected directly by us, or it may be collected by a third-party website hosting provider, or another third-party service provider, on our behalf.
We use the information we collect from you while you are using the Site in a variety of ways, including, for example, to process your registration request, provide you with services and communications that you have requested, send you email updates and other communications, customize features and advertising that appear on the Site, deliver our Site content to you, measure Site traffic, measure user interests and traffic patterns, and improve the Site and the services and features offered via the Site.
In addition, we may use any information submitted by or collected from you via the Site for any purpose related to the Site, including to contact you for customer service purposes, to inform you of important changes or additions to our Site or the services offered over our Site, and to send you administrative notices and any other communications that we believe may be of interest to you.
We also may provide your information to our affiliates or to third parties, including our third party service providers and contractors, for purposes related to Site administration and other services. For example, if you use a credit or debit card to complete a transaction on our Site, we may share your personal information and credit card number with a credit card processing and/or a fulfillment company in order to complete your transaction, or such service provider(s) may collect that information from you directly, on our behalf.
If you do not wish your personally identifiable information to be used or shared for these purposes, send an email to Westminster Journal whose contact information is available on this website.
For information about use of your information by us and by third-party advertising service providers for advertising, see the section "Data Collected in Connection with Ad Serving and Targeting."
Our Site also includes links to other websites and provides access to products and services offered by third parties, whose privacy policies we do not control. When you access another website or purchase products or services from a third-party, use of any information you provide is governed by the Privacy Notice of the operator of the site you are visiting or the provider of such products or services.
We also make some content, products and services available through our Site through cooperative relationships with third-party providers, where the brands of our provider partner appear on the Site in connection with such content, products and/or services. We may share with our provider partner any information you provide, or that is collected, in the course of visiting any pages that are made available in cooperation with our provider partner. In some cases, the provider partner may collect information from you directly, in which cases the Privacy Notice of our provider partner may apply to the provider partner's use of your information. The Privacy Notice of our provider partners may differ from ours. If you have any questions regarding the Privacy Notice of one of our provider partners, you should contact the provider partner directly for more information.
Please be aware that we may occasionally release information about our visitors if required to do so by law or if, in our business judgment, such disclosure is reasonably necessary: (a) to comply with legal process; (b) to enforce our Terms of Service; or (c) to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of our Site, us, our affiliates, our officers, directors, employees, representatives, our licensors, other users, and/or the public.
Please also note that as our business grows, we may buy or sell various assets. In the unlikely event that we sell some or all of our assets, or our Site is acquired by another company, information about our Site users may be among the transferred assets.
Data Collected in Connection with Ad Serving and Targeting
We may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, and/or a third-party ad serving software, to collect non-personally identifiable information about site users and site activity, and we may use this information to, among other things, serve targeted advertisements on this site. The information collected allows us to analyze how users use the site and to track user interests, trends and patterns, thus allowing us to deliver more relevant advertisements to users.
We also may use third-party service providers, including Yahoo!, to target and serve some of the advertisements you see on the pages of our Site. We may share non-personally identifiable information, such as type of pages viewed and categories of interest, from our Site with these service providers for their use in displaying ads on our Site. These providers may use their own cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to collect non-personally identifiable information from our Site. These service providers may use that information, sometimes in conjunction with similar non-personally identifiable information gathered through other websites, to deliver advertisements on this Site, and on other websites that participate in our service providers’ advertising networks, that are tailored to match the perceived interests of consumers. In addition, Yahoo!, which is one of our third-party advertising service providers, may use information regarding its own users to select which ads to display on this Site. The non-personally identifiable information obtained by our third-party service providers also may be used to help measure and research an advertisement’s effectiveness, or for other purposes.
The data collected in connection with the ad serving and ad targeting on our Site does not identify you personally and does not include your name, address, email address or telephone number, but it may include the IP address of your computer.
The use and collection of information by third-party advertising service providers is governed by the relevant third party’s Privacy Notice and is not covered by our Privacy Notice.
Information You Post to Blogs, Discussion Forums and Other Community Posting or Social Networking Areas
Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily make your personal information or other private information available for viewing by third parties online - for example on blogs, discussion forums, or other community posting or social networking areas of our Site - that information can be seen, collected and used by others besides us. We cannot be responsible for any unauthorized third-party use of such information.
Children's Privacy Statement
This children's privacy statement explains our practices with respect to the online collection and use of personal information from children under the age of 13, and provides important information regarding their rights under federal law with respect to such information.
· This Site is not directed to children under the age of 13 and we do NOT knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 as part of the Site. We screen users who wish to provide personal information in order to prevent users under the age of 13 from providing such information. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personally identifiable information from a user under the age of 13 as part of the Site, we will delete such information from our records.
· Because we do not collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 via the Site, we also do NOT knowingly distribute such information to third parties.
· We do NOT knowingly allow children under the age of 13 to publicly post or otherwise distribute personally identifiable contact information through the Site.
· Because we do not collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 via the Site, we do NOT condition the participation of a child under 13 in the Site's online activities on providing personally identifiable information.
How To Make Changes to Your Information
If you are a registered member of our Site, you can make changes to your account information by logging in to the Site and using the account tools available via the Site. If you have subscribed to one or more of our email newsletters, you also may change your subscriber information, modify your subscriptions, and/or unsubscribe from these newsletters at any time by logging in to your account.
Storage of Information
All information we gather on our Site is stored within a database to which only we and our hosting services provider are provided access. However, as effective as the reasonable security measures implemented by us may be, no physical or electronic security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our Site’s servers or databases, nor can we guarantee that information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.
Questions Regarding Privacy
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, our privacy practices, or your dealings with us, you can contact Westminster Journal through the Contact Us page.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 October 2011 17:22
Hits: 269
Parent Category: ROOT Category: Uncategorised Written by The Editor

The revolutionary street protests in Tunisia and Egypt have been most laudable. For decades there has been a ceiling of fear enforced on citizens of both countries who deserve so much more. Yet history tells us that the euphoria of a successful revolution (and let us hope that Mubarak leaves and is replaced well soon) is often short-lived, just as Ukrainians have found in recent years.
Commentators have been quick to point out the dangers for Egypt and Tunisia. Islamist government has been touted as the huge potential step backwards for both countries. If the people of Egypt and Tunisia let the Islamists take control, so the doomsayers calculate, they could be soon dreaming about how their countries were progressive and relatively free under Mubarak and Ben Ali.
What these commentators should actually be asking themselves is whether the Islamist parties in Egypt and Tunisia can take their values and inspiration from Islam but still accept a secular state.
Taking part in democratic politics can change Islamist parties. Take the AK Party in Turkey that came to power in 2002 after scrapping its ideal of creating an Islamic state. Once in power, they could no longer rely on slogans or ideology for votes, they actually had to deliver things. Suddenly the headlines of Ummah and Khilafah are displaced by Health Service and Economy. Save a few contentious legislative attempts around the fringes, the AK Party is arguably no more pro-Islamist than the blind-eye former governments of Verhofstadt in Belgium or Britain’s Brown. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has focused far more on reforming the economy than on passing laws to please the more Islamist wing of his support base.
Apart from the Taliban or Algerian experiment, what is the worst case scenario for Egyptians and Tunisians?
Surely that must be the Islamist example set by Iran, where the 1979 revolution overthrew Shah Reza Pahlevi and made the top Shiite religious hierarchy the ultimate power in Iran. The Supreme Leader, now Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is more powerful than the president and appoints heads of the military, judiciary and the Guardian Council that oversees political life. Hezbollah and Hamas are now classified as terrorist entities by the US - this is not because they are Islamist but because they advocate armed struggle, notably against Israel.
Another long-established Islamist party, Jamaat-i-Islami, in mostly Sunni Pakistan, scores only single-digit results at the polls despite the strong role religion plays in politics there. Their programs reflect a more moderate approach than those of Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Palestinian Hamas or Iran.
Tunisia’s prominent Islamist groupings are definitely more liberal than the Muslim Brotherhood is in Egypt. Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Ennahda in Tunisia, has long advocated more liberal policies than the Brotherhood. He supports full political rights for all citizens, for example, unlike the Brotherhood that wants to bar non-Muslims and women from top posts such as Egypt's presidency.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood began in 1928 advocating a fully Islamic state. However, it has softened that call over the past few decades of banned but unofficially tolerated political activity under President Hosni Mubarak. As the main opposition party, it is set to play a prominent role in post-Mubarak Egypt, but its cautious leaders say they do not want to lead any new government.
The fact is that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamist Ennahda (Renaissance) party in Tunisia have so far not been able to operate in open political systems, so their professed commitment to democracy has not yet been tested in daily practice. A theocracy in Egypt seems highly unlikely as clergy play a far more minor role than in Shi’ism.
Of course, should there be a step backwards in either country; both peoples will know they have it within themselves to shift an undesired regime.
Dominic Wightman is Editor of the Westminster Journal.
Last Updated on Sunday, 30 October 2011 17:15
Hits: 760