Christians Who Demonize Israel: Kairos; Turkey: Death to Free Speech ...

In this mailing: Denis MacEoin: Christians Who Demonize Israel: Kairos Burak Bekdil: Turkey: Death to Free Speech Shoshana Bryen: The Value of Tolerance Christians Who Demonize Israel: Kairos by Denis MacEoin  •  January 27, 2016 at 5:00 am "Christian children are massacred, and everything is done in plain sight. Islamists proclaim on a daily basis that they will not stop until Christianity is wiped off the face of the earth. So are the world Christian bodies denouncing the Islamic forces for the ethnic cleansing, genocide and historic demographic-religious revolution their brethren are suffering? No. Christians these days are busy targeting the Israeli Jews." — Giulio Meotti, Italian journalist. The Kairos document seems to be so egregiously discriminatory that in 2010, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) declared it "supersessionist" and "anti-Semitic." We must ask why a presentation of the work of Kairos in an Anglican church made no reference whatever to the many associations with extremism and denial of a more rational Christian approach to the problems faced by Palestinian Christians. Rifat Odeh Kassis, co-author and general coordinator of the Kairos Palestine initiative, is pictured above giving an interview to Al-Manar TV, the official TV channel of Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorist organization. (Photo source: Kairos Palestine) Last September, during the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel -- an initiative of the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) of the World Council of Churches, St. Thomas' Church in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, hosted an event titled "Wall Will Fall". For anyone unfamiliar with the history, legal issues, and distortions of the Israeli-Arab and Jewish-Muslim conflicts, the deeply one-sided presentations and literature of the event may seem reasonable in the lack of such a context, and this report will, therefore, attempt to rebalance the narrative. Continue Reading Article  Turkey: Death to Free Speech by Burak Bekdil  •  January 27, 2016 at 4:00 am A criminal indictment was filed against Sedat Ergin, editor-in-chief of the country's most influential newspaper, Hurriyet. Prosecutors demanded up to five years in prison for Ergin, for allegedly insulting President Erdogan. The indictment claims that Hurriyet insulted the president by paraphrasing what the president had said. "[T]his is a 'democracy' with a growingly diminishing freedom of speech. It is 'democracy' where the 'voice of the nation,' which practically is the voice of the political majority and its glorified leader, intimidates and silences dissenting voices." — Mustafa Akyol, columnist, Hurriyet. According to a report by the Turkish Journalists Association, 500 journalists were fired in Turkey in 2015, while 70 others were subjected to physical violence. Thirty journalists remain in prison, mostly on terrorism charges. Needless to say, the unfortunate journalists invariably are known to be critical of Erdogan. Europe, cherishing its "transactional" relations with Turkey, prefers to look the other way and whistle. All the EU could say about the prosecution of academics was that it is "extremely worrying." Brussels cannot see that Turkish affairs passed the threshold of "extremely worrying" a long time ago. A criminal indictment was filed against Sedat Ergin (left), editor-in-chief of the country's most influential newspaper, Hurriyet. Prosecutors demanded up to five years in prison for Ergin, for allegedly insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right). Defending his quest for an executive presidential system Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cited Hitler's Germany as an effective form of government. Yes, he said, you can have the presidential system in a unitary state as in Hitler's Germany. His office later claimed that the president's "Hitler's Germany" metaphor had been "distorted" by the media. Erdogan's words on Hitler's Germany may or may not have been distorted, but the way he rules Turkey reminds one powerfully of how Hitler ruled the Third Reich. Continue Reading Article  The Value of Tolerance Today is "Wear a Kippah Day" - Il Foglio Wants Your Selfie by Shoshana Bryen  •  January 27, 2016 at 3:00 am The question is not whether a Jew wears a kippah [Jewish skullcap]. It is whether others -- Jews and non-Jews -- insist that Jews have a RIGHT to wear a kippah -- and Christians a cross -- and whether non-Jews join Jews in wearing a kippah as a test of tolerance. "A Jew who hides in fear of being recognized as a Jew is the perfect symbol of a world that forces the West to hide for fear of provoking a reaction among those who want to stab the West." -- Il Foglio, Italian newspaper. Please wear a kippah on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. Do it for freedom of religion -- for all of us. And send Il Foglio -- kippah@ilfoglio.it -- your selfie! The defining value of Western politics is tolerance -- not that anyone is always tolerant, and not that other people are not also tolerant, but in order to have the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal justice under law and multiple political parties. The demand that we be tolerant of that which we do not observe and do not believe and even/especially with which we do not agree is paramount. "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness," and "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" require tolerance. "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." The First Amendment's protection of a free press and freedom from prior government censorship is the definition of tolerance. Think Nazis in Skokie or "Piss Christ." Continue Reading Article

Russia continues to aggressively posture against NATO from both Ukraine and Syria while casting itself as a constructive actor in both conflicts. U.S. European Command (EUCOM) accused Russia of destabilizing Europe ...

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Russia Security Update:  January 12-26, 2016         by Hugo Spaulding and ISW Russia and Ukraine Team Russia continues to aggressively posture against NATO from both Ukraine and Syria while casting itself as a constructive actor in both conflicts. U.S. European Command (EUCOM) accused Russia of destabilizing Europe by violating international norms and named deterring Russian aggression as its strategic priority. Moscow announced plans to form three new military divisions in western Russia to counter NATO. Russia is also reportedly developing an airbase near the Turkish border in northwestern Syria, an expansion of its military footprint in the Middle East that threatens to reignite its conflict with NATO member Turkey. France and the U.S. nevertheless signaled their intent to lift sanctions against Russia this year if it fulfills its commitments under the February 2015 ceasefire agreement in Ukraine. The U.S. held senior-level talks with both Ukraine and Russia to discuss plans for elections in separatist-held southeastern Ukraine, a key Russian demand within the ceasefire agreement. Russia has used superficially democratic tools to cloak its aggression throughout its Ukraine campaign and again seeks to use controlled elections to legitimize its occupation of Ukrainian territory. Western pressure on Kyiv to support the separatist elections as new Russian hardware reportedly enters the conflict zone reflects the additional leverage Moscow has gained by intervening in the Syrian Civil War and posturing as a partner against ISIS.   Russia is courting anti-EU and anti-NATO opposition parties across Europe in order to assert itself as a rival center of power on the continent. Congress ordered the U.S. Director of National Intelligence to conduct an investigation into the Kremlin's connections with far-right and far-left opposition parties in the EU that are opposed to Brussels. Russian efforts to cultivate ties with European opposition parties extend beyond the EU. Moldova's pro-Russian opposition launched a wave of anti-government protests on January 20 calling for snap elections and the resignation of the newly-appointed pro-European prime minister. The Kremlin, which reportedly hosted Moldova's pro-Russian opposition leaders in the buildup to the protests, likely seeks to capitalize on the corruption scandals plaguing the ruling pro-European faction in order to reverse the former Soviet republic's Western geopolitical trajectory. Russia has made similar overtures to the anti-NATO opposition in Montenegro, where the pro-European government faces a possible vote of no confidence on January 27. Russia's deputy foreign minister met with opposition leaders in Montenegro to discuss the promotion of a possible referendum on the Balkan country's planned NATO accession. In tandem with its efforts to revise international norms in Ukraine, Russia's outreach to anti-EU and anti-NATO opposition movements advances its strategic objective of expanding its sphere of influence in Europe at the expense of the U.S. and allied governments.              Read this update online

Here is what we, in the USA, have to worry about in the near future. Canadian gun control Worth the watch!...

Watch this one.

Here is what we, in the USA, have to worry about in the near future. Canadian gun control Worth the watch! Please keep this one going!   http://www.youtube.com/embed/03XEUPfD0qM

In this mailing: Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Is Abbas Losing Control? Denis MacEoin: The Spreading Scent of Cologne Palestinians: Is Abbas Losing Control? by Khaled Abu Toameh  •  January 26, 2016 at 5:00 am If Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas loses control of his Fatah faction, who gets to comfort him? Could it be his erstwhile rivals in Hamas? Abbas seems firm in his refusal to pave the way for the emergence of a new leadership in the West Bank. A split within Fatah in the West Bank seems the inevitable result. Gaza's Fatah leaders are furious with Abbas. The deepening divisions among Fatah could drive Fatah cadres in the Gaza Strip into the open arms of Hamas. "The talk about Fatah-Hamas reconciliation is nothing but a smokescreen to conceal the growing discontent with President Abbas's autocratic rule." — Palestinian official. Fatah is Israel's purported "peace partner" -- the faction spearheading efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state. Decision-makers in the U.S. and Europe might wish to keep abreast of the solvency of Abbas's Fatah faction when they consider the wisdom of the two-state solution. According to a Palestinian official, "The talk about Fatah-Hamas reconciliation is nothing but a smokescreen to conceal the growing discontent with President Abbas's autocratic rule." Pictured above, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) shakes hands with Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, during negotiations in 2007 for a short-lived unity government. (Image source: Palestinian Press Office) If Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas loses control of his Fatah faction, who gets to comfort him? Could it be his erstwhile rivals in Hamas? Abbas has been facing increasing criticism in the past weeks from senior Fatah officials in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It seems that they have tired of his autocratic-style rule. Some of them, including Jibril Rajoub and Tawfik Tirawi, have even come out in public against the PA president, demanding that he share power enough at least to appoint a deputy president. Fatah seems to be in even worse shape in the Gaza Strip. Fatah leaders and activists there have accused Abbas of "marginalizing" the faction, and are making unmistakable break-away noises. At a meeting of Fatah cadres in the Gaza Strip last week, Abbas and the Palestinian Authority leadership were castigated for turning their backs on the faction there. Continue Reading Article  The Spreading Scent of Cologne by Denis MacEoin  •  January 26, 2016 at 4:00 am What appals so many onlookers is that this damage to European societies is being done with open eyes and listening ears, and that many lessons have not been learned. The mass sexual assaults on New Year's Eve, and many through the year, are clearly the work of single, mainly young men. In packs, people can more easily give in to anti-social tendencies, but these men from North Africa and the Middle East seem to bring with them social attitudes that make it hard for them to conform with European notions of what is, and what is not, criminal or decent. Muslim hate speakers are given free rein to address students at many British universities. The double-standard is that the same universities have banned controversial but important speakers or just about anybody who supports the state of Israel. And if speakers are not actually banned, hordes of ideologically-inspired students and outsiders will turn up to disrupt their lectures with shouts, screams, and threats. A scene from New Year's Eve in front of Cologne's central railway station, when hundreds of girls and women were sexually assaulted, mostly by migrants. The city of Cologne, still famous for its scented water, has become, since last New Year's Eve, best known for the depredations and misogyny of a growing population of immigrants from North Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. The events of that evening, when hundreds of women were assaulted, manhandled, and even raped by thousands of migrant newcomers who could not be restrained by the police, spread across the world in days if not hours. At first, the police played down the seriousness of the incidents, but by January 10th, the BBC reported that the number of criminal cases had risen to 516, forty percent of which were related to sexual assault. According to German police, "Asylum seekers and illegal migrants from North Africa comprise the majority of suspects." This has been confirmed by Germany's interior ministry, which has stated that almost all those involved were migrants. Continue Reading Article

This is not who we really are ...Hello Obambo! Delusional to the end....

Thank you Jonah...

Nuff Said...