Showing posts with label Arab Spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arab Spring. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Mideast on Fire: Jerusalem the Center of a Coming 'Perfect Storm' - Chris Mitchell CBN NEWS


Mideast on Fire: Jerusalem the Center of a Coming 'Perfect Storm'
02-09-2016

CBN NEWS
JERUSALEM, Israel -- Since the dawn of what is known as the Arab Spring in 2011, the Middle East has gone through profound and historic changes, killing hundreds of thousands of people and forcing millions of others from their homes.
Some believe the region could be on the verge of regional war with global consequences.  
In just the past three years, the ISIS terror army conquered huge areas of Syria and Iraq, Iran struck a landmark nuclear deal with the rest of the world, Russia made its biggest military move into the Middle East in decades, and  two main rivals within Islam -- Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran -- appeared on the brink of war.
Israel's former national security advisor describes what is happening in the Middle East now as a "perfect storm."
He believes a series of events are converging that will create a situation far more dangerous than the individual events themselves. Sitting right in the center of the Middle East storm is the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
In the Blink of an Eye
Middle East expert and best-selling author Joel Rosenberg told CBN News he believes this chaos portends a gloomy picture for the year ahead.
"The state of the Middle East is a catastrophe right now. The Middle East is on fire," Rosenberg said. "2016 is going to be a very dangerous year because you are watching the complete catastrophic failure of American foreign policy under President Obama."
"You're watching the Russians and the Iranians trying to rush into the vacuum of the American retreat," he continued. "You're watching the Islamic State on offense. You're seeing Iran being rewarded for its belligerent behavior and now has two ways to nuclear weapons."
"This is a disaster in the making," Rosenberg warned.

Some are convinced that one of those disasters in the making is the nuclear deal with Iran. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., calls it one of the worst diplomatic agreements in U.S. history.
"Even if Iran follows the deal to the letter, they're going to be a nuclear threshold state in a mere 10 or 15 years, which Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu says is a blink of an eye in the life of nations," Cotton explained. 

He said it could lead to a Middle East nuclear arms race and put the region on the brink of a nuclear holocaust.
"We are at risk of entering a second nuclear age and the loss of life, not in the tens, not in the thousands, not in even the hundreds of thousands -- but in the millions," Cotton warned.
"And that loss of life could include American life because Iran is also developing a ballistic missile program and they also have shown they are willing to kill Americans," he added.
Iran vs. Saudi Arabia
Another storm cloud on the horizon is the growing battle between Sunnis and Shiites, led by Saudi Arabia and Iran. The feud began to boil when the Saudis recently executed a top Shiite cleric.
Although Middle East analyst Michael Barak doesn't expect a direct war between two of the region's giants, proxy wars around the region could instensify.

"Executing this guy is meaning like a declaration of war against Iran," Barak said. "Actually, we are already witness to the clash between the Shia and Sunni in Yemen and Iraq and Syria. It will get worse, of course."
Enter the Russian Bear
Russia's actions have generated yet another storm cloud. When it entered the Syrian civil war, it formed an alliance with Iran.
That unprecedented coalition fuels a greater danger to Israel, according to Rosenberg.
"The alliance between Moscow and Tehran is a match made in hell," he said.
"And so what you have now the two countries are now operating in Syria supposedly against the Islamic State. But it puts them dangerously close to Israel," Rosenberg cautioned.
"And the United States under President Obama is just throwing up our hands and say, 'Well, whatever, why don't you guys take care of the problem?'" he said.
"We are ceding the Middle East over to Moscow and Tehran," he warned. "This has dangerous implications for the United States, for the world, and for Israel like we have not seen in generations."

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Confirmed: U.S. is Chief Facilitator of Christian Persecution - BreakingIsraelNews

This report from BreakingIsraelNews is stunning.

Confirmed: U.S. is Chief Facilitator of Christian Persecution

Posted by: Raymond Ibrahim January 21, 2014 , 2:29 pm


Prominent indicators confirm that the U.S. is the chief facilitator of the persecution of Christians around the world today.
According to the recently released 2014 World Watch List, which ranks the 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted, Syria is the third worst nation in the world in which to be Christian, Iraq is fourth, Afghanistan fifth, and Libya 13th. All four countries receive the strongest designation, “extreme persecution” (other designations are “severe,” “moderate,” and “sparse” persecution).
Aside from being so closely and harshly ranked, these four nations have something else in common: heavy U.S. involvement. Three—Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya—were “liberated” thanks to U.S. forces, while in the fourth, Syria, the U.S. is actively sponsoring “freedom fighters” against the regime, many of whom would be better labeled “terrorists.”
The Syrian situation alone indicts U.S. foreign policy. According to Reuters:
Open Doors, a non-denominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday it had documented 2,123 “martyr” killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said. “This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm,” said Frans Veerman, head of research for Open Doors. Estimates by other Christian groups put the annual figure as high as 8,000.”
While most Americans are shielded from the true nature of the war by the U.S. media’s reluctance to report on it, Arabic media, websites, and activists daily report and document atrocity after atrocity—beheadings and bombed churches, Christians slaughtered for refusing to convert to Islam, and countless abducted for ransom or rape—at the hands of those whom the U.S. supports.
Sen. John McCain meets with “Syrian rebels,” many of whom are not Syrian, and one of which is a known kidnapper (L – Muhammad Nour). (Photo: Raymond Ibrahim)
Sen. John McCain meets with “Syrian rebels,” many of whom are not Syrian, and one of which is a known kidnapper (L – Muhammad Nour). (Photo: Raymond Ibrahim)
It’s enough to point out that “the largest massacre of Christians in Syria,” to quote a top religious leader, was left wholly unreported by any major U.S. news network.
At any rate, the statistics speak for themselves: Syria, which used to be religiously tolerant, is now, in the context of the United States’ trying to bring “democracy” to it, the third worst country in the world in terms of “extreme persecution” of Christians.
The Blaze reports that Dr. David Curry, president of Open Doors,
charged that the Obama administration has essentially declined to make the protection of religious minorities a priority . . . “There are many instances where the vacuum of leadership and spokesmanship has created a real problem,” said the human rights leader. “I would say that every significant data point on this year’s ‘2014 Watch List’ is worse—and I think a factor in it is a lack of leadership from Western governments including . . . the U.S. in terms of religious freedom.”
But it’s worse than that. Far from taking any action or providing leadership—or simply ceasing to support the terrorists responsible—the Obama administration recently tried to go to war with Syria on behalf of the “freedom fighters,” amazingly, in the name of “human rights” (Apparently the unsubstantiated rumor that Assad massacred people is enough for the U.S. to go to war, but the ongoing and well-documented massacres of Christians and other civilians at the hands of the opposition is not enough for the U.S. to stop supporting them.)
What’s worse, even the most misinformed mainstream-media-watching American today knows that the so-called “Arab Spring,” which was hailed to justify U.S. support for “rebels” of all stripes—in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood (which months ago destroyed some 80 churches); in Libya, al-Qaeda, which has turned Benghazi into a terror zone; and now the “freedom fighters” in Syria—is not what it was touted to be.
HebronFund-600WIDE
In other words, at this point, whenever the U.S. intervenes in an Islamic nation, Islamists come to power. This is well demonstrated by the other three nations to which the U.S. brought “democracy” and where Christian minorities suffer “extreme persecution”:
  • Afghanistan: The supposedly “moderate” Karzai government installed by the U.S. upholds many of the draconian laws enforced by the Taliban—including the apostasy law, fiercely persecuting those who seek to convert to Christianity—and, in 2011, under U.S. auspices, it destroyed Afghanistan’s last Christian church.
  • Iraq: After the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein, Christian minorities were savagely attacked and slaughtered, and dozens of their churches were bombed (see here for graphic images). Christians have been terrorized into near-extinction, with well over half of them fleeing Iraq.
  • Libya: Ever since U.S.-backed, al-Qaeda-linked terrorists overthrew Qaddafi, Christians—including Americans—have indeed suffered extreme persecution. Churches have been bombed; Christians have been tortured and killed (including for refusing to convert); and nuns have been threatened.
Surely a common theme emerges here: Where the U.S. works to oust secular autocrats, the quality of life for Christians and other minorities takes a major nosedive. Under Saddam, Qaddafi, and Assad, Christians and their churches were largely protected.
Moreover, while George W. Bush was responsible for Afghanistan and Iraq, the argument can be made that, back then (2001 and 2003), this pattern of Islamic radicalization that erupts once autocrats are gone was less well known than it is today. There weren’t many precedents.
Conversely, the Obama administration has had both Afghanistan and Iraq to learn from—and yet still it supports Islamists and jihadis. But by now, what happens once they assume power—religious persecution, terror, oppression—is no longer a secret.
Incidentally, those who care little for the fate of Christians or other minorities in the Islamic world would do well to remember a simple truism: Wherever anti-Christian elements come to power, anti-American forces come to power. The two are synonymous.
Put differently, Muslim persecution of Christians is the litmus test of how radical an Islamic society has become. In all those Muslim nations that the U.S. has interfered in—Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Egypt (till the Egyptians revolted, to the chastisement of the U.S.), and now Syria—the increase of religious intolerance is a reflection of the empowerment of forces hostile to Western civilization.
I am often asked, “How can we help persecuted Christians?” At this point, one must respond: “How about starting with getting the U.S. government to stop being the chief facilitator of Christian persecution?” Altruism aside, it would be in the interests of all who value freedom, religious or otherwise—and especially their descendants.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Israel Today: EXCLUSIVE: Arab Women in Israel and the Arab World

EXCLUSIVE: Arab Women in Israel and the Arab World

Wednesday, January 01, 2014 |  Ryan Jones  
When the Thomas Reuters Foundation published a survey on living conditions for women in the Arab world, comparisons with Israel were inevitable. The results of the survey were shocking. The much touted “Arab Spring” that was supposed to have delivered greater democratic freedoms to many Arab nations appeared to have overlooked that fundamental building block of modern Western democracy: women’s rights.
But, in Israel the situation is completely different. "Close to 60 percent of Arab students in universities and colleges are women,” renowned expert Dr. Salah Azaiza told Israel Today. “And a great many of those women are seeking master’s degrees and doctorates" before going on to careers in hi-tech, medicine, politics and every other sphere of society.
The full article appears in the current edition of Israel Today Magazine.
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