While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location.
If any measure of peace between Muslims and Christians is to prevail, no church can exist in the village, local Muslims said. “The only houses of worship that can ever be built in this village are Muslim places of worship for Allah.” — Watan International, Egypt.
“The Al Shabaab are now hunting down the children in Mogadishu, and we have moved the care center to a bit safer location…. The children look devastated and malnourished, so we as a secret church do appeal to our brothers and sisters in the free world to consider extending a hand to these persecuted children.” — Pastor of an underground church, Somalia.
“[I]t seems that the Muslims intentionally wanted to pick a fight with us.” — Pastor of King Jesus Church, Pakistan.
On March 26, medical staff and security guards at Services Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan beat to death a Christian father of four and injured five members of his family, including the pregnant sister he had brought because she was in labor. Pictured: The Department of Surgery at Services Hospital, in 2014. (Image Source: Baitaal/Wikimedia Commons)
Turkey Creating New Tensions with Greece and the US
Relations between Washington and Ankara have already deteriorated significantly under Erdogan — as dramatically emphasized by America’s absolutely correct refusal to turn over to Erdogan the man he says is behind Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt, Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric who exiled himself to Pennsylvania almost 20 years ago, as well as by the escalating imbroglio over detained U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, who is apparently being held as a hostage to force the U.S. to extradite Gülen back to Turkey.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell recently called Greece, “an anchor of stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Balkans.”
Under President Trump, the signs keep growing that the U.S. is more and more likely to see things Greece’s way.
During his state visit to Greece in 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a forceful request that Greece agree to re-negotiate the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Pictured: Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on December 7, 2017. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s June 24 re-election seems to be leading to heightened tensions between Turkey and Greece. Furthermore, in an eventual confrontation between these two NATO member states, Turkey’s reported interest in purchasing air-defense missiles and fighter jets from Russia, underscored by Turkey’s continued detention of American Christian Pastor Andrew Brunson and the U.S. imposition of sanctions on Turkish officials (as well as Turkish counter-sanctions), may well cause Washington to favor Greece.
In addition, prior to June 24, the Turkish parliament, and the Turkish people by referendum, awarded the presidency with nearly authoritarian power. Erdogan may now use these powers to strengthen even further his control of Turkey’s domestic political order — and to become more aggressive internationally as a result.
Erdogan’s margin of victory in the June 24 election was slim. Despite his hold over the Turkish media, Erdogan garnered but a slim majority of 52% in the election. Erdogan, possibly to increase his domestic political support, might continue taking an aggressive posture toward Greece. Erdogan could, for instance, demand that Athens renegotiate the status of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, which were awarded to Greece in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
Turkey’s nationalist political parties, which constitute most of the domestic opposition to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), already favor a policy that demands Athens return territories given to the Greeks in the Treaty of Lausanne, after the Ottoman Empire’s defeat in World War I. The nationalist People’s Republican Party’s (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu publicly impugned Erdogan’s patriotism for having failed to demand that Greece give back all the disputed islands:
“Look at islands of Aegean, they are Greek islands. The islands that should be ours are occupied by Greece. The Greek flag is fluttering on islands belonging to Turkey. I want an answer for this, Erdogan.”
Erdogan might also want to insist that Greece should surrender sovereignty over the Dodecanese Islands, which consist of 163 islands and islets that Italy ceded to Greece in 1947.
Political opposition to Erdogan’s AKP is also based on the fear that Turkey is becoming increasingly anti-democratic. In addition, many Turks fear that Erdogan’s party is intent on transforming Turkey into an Islamic State, thus jettisoning the country’s modern identity as a secular, democratic republic.
Erdogan seems openly nostalgic for the Ottoman Empire, and recently conducted a ceremonial visit to the refurbished tomb of Sultan Mehmet II, the Turkish conqueror of Constantinople in 1453.
The Ottoman Empire was dis-established in 1924, after more than four centuries as the center of Islam. After the declaration of a Turkish Republic in 1923 by secular, nationalist military officers led by Kemal Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal), both the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Caliphate were forced to abdicate.
The initial sign that Erdogan actually may be adopting a more nationalist policy was his forceful request, during a December 2017 visit to Greece, that Greece agree to re-negotiate the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The Greek response was immediate and unequivocal. Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos replied:
“The Treaty of Lausanne defines the territory and sovereignty of Greece and the European Union and this treaty is non-negotiable. It has no flaws, it does not to be reviewed or updated.”
Following that rejection, Turkey staged a series of provocative incidents in the Aegean region, including violations of Greek air space and incursions into Greek territorial waters. More serious incidents followed, among them the ramming in February of a Greek Coast Guard vessel by a Turkish patrol boat, harassing a Greek helicopter transporting Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in April, and the crash of a Greek Mirage 2000-5 that had been on a mission responding to Turkish jets violating Greece’s air space over a Greek island close to the Turkish coast.
Bilateral tensions are still escalating. Erdogan is demanding that Greece extradite several Turkish soldiers who fled there for asylum after a failed coup against him in July 2016. Greece’s Supreme Court last year ruled against the extradition, declaring that should an extradition take place, the soldiers would suffer a curtailment of their human rights.
In response, Turkey detained for several months two Greek soldiers who had mistakenly crossed into Turkish territory during inclement weather, but in August finally repatriated them to Greece.
This escalating dispute also includes the divided island of Cyprus, which Turkey invaded in 1974. Since then, Turkey has occupied a northern section of the island, ethnically cleansing Greeks from that part of the island. Cyprus’ political status has remained in limbo ever since.
In June 2017, peace talks between the island nation’s ethnic Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders seemed to be leading to the establishment of a unified government. By February 2018, however, negotiations came to a halt.
The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, blamed this sudden collapse on the decision of Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to await the outcome of the Turkish referendum on the powers of the of the presidency. While the talks remain in recess with no set date for resumption, both the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus support a peace settlement. Discussions are underway to explore possibilities for resuming negotiations.
Whatever happens next, Erdogan maintains about 30,000-strong troop presence in the northern portion of Cyprus. If Greek-Turkish tensions escalate, the possibility of another ill-timed military provocation could escalate with them.
The ability of NATO to respond to other conflicts in the area could be affected, as well as NATO air and naval assets based in both countries. Moreover, such a conflict might open up an even greater opportunity for Russian interference.
Erdogan has indicated that he may not be interested in stopping there. Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut, now living in the US, quotes Erdogan as saying in early March 2018:
“There are physical borders and then there are borders in our hearts. Some people ask us: Why do we take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Georgia, Crimea, Karabakh, Azerbaijan, the Balkans, and North Africa?…None of these lands are foreign to us. Is it possible to divide Rize [in Turkey] from Batumi (in [Georgia]? How can we consider Edirne [in Turkey] as separate from Thessaloniki [in Greece]? How can we think that Gaziantep [in Turkey] has nothing to with Aleppo [in Syria], Mardin [in Turkey] with al-Hasakah [in Syria] or Siirt [in Turkey] from Mosul [in Iraq].”
Those overweening attitudes are undoubtedly causing concern in the Trump Administration, already with its hands full with the legacy bequeathed it in Iran, China, and North Korea, to name just a few places. Relations between Washington and Ankara have already deteriorated significantly under Erdogan — as dramatically emphasized by America’s absolutely correct refusal to turn over to Erdogan the man he says is behind Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt, Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric who exiled himself to Pennsylvania almost 20 years ago, as well as by the escalating imbroglio over detained U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, who is apparently being held as a hostage to force the U.S. to extradite Gülen back to Turkey.
There is a marked increase in pro-Greece rhetoric at the U.S. State Department. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell recently called Greece, “an anchor of stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Balkans.” Mitchell also bluntly warned Turkey that the U.S. would not accept any Turkish violations of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone. Mitchell’s warning was probably a reference to Turkey’s actions to block offshore gas drilling by Cyprus.
If nothing else, Erdogan’s impulsive assertiveness may be inspiring Greece to help in damping down some other sources of regional instability. Athens recently reached a compromise with Macedonia over its name, as “Macedonia” is also a northern region of Greece. Athens then sponsored “The Republic of North Macedonia” as a future new member of NATO.
Greece, which had previously adopted a stridently anti-Western policy in the wake of its massive debt crisis, now describes its overall foreign policy as “Euro-Atlanticism“, and has steadily improved relations with other democratic states such as Israel. Greece and Israel are cooperating with Italy and Cyprus to export to Europe natural gas discovered in Israeli waters.
All of that does not diminish the threats to NATO and the region produced by Erdogan’s growing truculence. Under U.S. President Donald J. Trump, the signs keep growing that the US is more and more likely to see things Greece’s way.
An ITV Documentary about Muammar Gaddafi and his support for the Provisional IRA. This Documentary follows him and his support for the IRA – February 2011
On February 16th of 2017, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley gave a speech following the UN Security Council Consultations on the Middle East. See the video above or transcript below.
Donald Trump is the all-but-declared Republican presidential nominee and Hillary Clinton on the cusp of winning the Democratic nomination. It is time for voters to begin weighing the national security consequences of each candidate’s potential administration.
You can read our full profiles of the candidates’ positions related to Islamist extremism by clicking here for Donald Trump and here for Hillary Clinton. Below is a summary of six policy areas where they differ:
Defining the Threat
Trump defines the enemy as “radical Islam.” Clinton defines it variably as “jihadism,” “radical Jihadism” “Islamists who are jihadists.”
Defeating the Ideology
Trump said in his foreign policy speech that “containing the spread of radical Islam must be a major foreign policy goal of the United States.” His policy proposals include a vague commitment to use the U.S. military more aggressively, deterring terrorists by killing their families, closing down the most radical mosques and banning Muslim immigration into the U.S. until the homeland is secure and an effective vetting process is established.
Trump is adamantly opposed to democracy-promotion and overthrowing regimes; instead, he favors alliances with authoritarian rulers who cooperate on counter-terrorism. He says, “our goal must be to defeat terrorists and promote stability, not radical change.”
He criticizes Clinton for supporting the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Bashar Assad in Syria. However, a reputable senior foreign policy adviser to Trump, Dr. Walid Phares, is an expert on combating the Islamist ideology and believes in promoting human rights and civil society.
Clinton’s national security platform calls for “defeating ISIS and global terrorism and the ideologies that drive it.” Her strategy emphasizes civil society and a foreign policy that promotes freedom, women’s rights, free markets, democracy and human rights, all if which she believes are necessary in order to “empower moderates and marginalize extremists.”
Clinton says the U.S. needs an “overarching strategy” to defeat the ideology like the U.S. used to win the Cold War. Clinton wants the State Department to better “tell our story” overseas by confronting anti-American propaganda via public engagement.
Clinton’s speech on foreign policy and ISIS also includes confronting state sponsors of extremism like Qatar and Saudi Arabia and identifying “the specific neighborhoods and villages, the prisons and schools, where recruitment happens in clusters, like the neighborhood in Brussels where the Paris attacks were planned.”
ISIS, Iraq and Syria
Trump says he will appoint effective generals who will quickly crush the Islamic State. He believes the U.S. has “no choice” but to send 20-30,000 troops to fight the Islamic State. He would also attack the families of Islamic State members, bomb oil sites held by the Islamic State and then seize them for U.S. companies to rebuild and own.
He would not support Syrian rebels against the Iran-backed Assad regime; Trump supported Russia’s military intervention in Syria to save the dictatorship. Trump believes he can be a partner with Russian President Putin. He says he would establish safe-zones in Syria to stop the flow of refugees, but neighboring Arab countries like Saudi Arabia would have to pay for it.
Clinton’s speech on ISIS emphasized her opposition to a large ground campaign by U.S. forces, but she does support President Obama’s deployment of about 5,000 troops to Iraq with a limited role. She disagreed with President Obama when she urged U.S. support for Syrian rebels at the beginning of the civil war in order to prevent Islamist extremists from gaining ground.
Clinton also supported using the U.S. Air Force to implement a no-fly zone in Syria and to create safe zones for refugees. Clinton remains committed to ending the civil war in Syria by forcing Assad to resign from power as part of a political transition.
In Iraq, she favors direct U.S. military assistance to Sunni tribes and Kurdish forces fighting ISIS and expanding the U.S. forces’ role to include embedding personnel in local Iraqi units and assisting with airstrikes.
Iran
Trump would terminate the nuclear deal with Iran immediately and pledged to “dismantle” Iran’s global terrorism network in his speech about Israel and the Middle East. He supports placing severe sanctions on Iran to pressure them into a deal that dismantles their nuclear program and ends their support for terrorism.
Clinton supports the nuclear deal with reservations. She has released a 5-point plan to respond to the deal’s negative consequences, Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism and human rights abuses of the Iranian regime. She supports expanding sanctions on Iran for these actions.
Neither candidate has explicitly endorsed overthrowing the Iranian regime, but Clinton took a step in that direction in 2010 when she said she hopes there will be “some effort inside Iran, by responsible civil and religious leaders, to take hold of the apparatus of the state.” She regrets that she and the Obama Administration did not more forcefully support the 2009 Green Revolution and promises “that won’t happen again.”
Neither candidate has endorsed the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act and concerns have been raised about both candidates’ advisers.
One of Clinton’s closest aides, Huma Abedin, was the assistant-editor of an Islamist journal with her family members, some of whom have Muslim Brotherhood links. She has not directly said anything extremist and is married to a pro-Israel Jew. Critics point out that although she has a security clearance, her familial ties may influence her advice to Clinton.
In her book, Clinton seems to understand that the Brotherhood is hostile to the U.S., deceptive and closely linked to Hamas. However, she seems to accept Islamist political parties like the Brotherhood as potential democratic partners. Her State Dept. operation in Egypt gave election training to Brotherhood members and a Clinton Foundation member belonged to the Brotherhood.
National Intelligence Director Clapper: Islamic State Exploiting Migrant Crisis In Europe ByPamela Geller on April 28, 2016
What was his first clue? They’ve been exploiting it for months. Back in February 2015, the Islamic State vowed to flood Europe with 500,000 refugees. Only now he is waking up to the crisis? And what is he doing about it? Has he persuaded Obama not to bring the “refugees” here in massive numbers? Of course not. And Obama is plotting with the UN to bring a quarter of a million of these soldiers to the USA. “National Intelligence Director Clapper: Islamic State Exploiting Migrant Crisis In Europe,” by Charlie Spiering, Breitbart, April 25, 2016:
National Intelligence Director James Clapper says Islamic State training camps currently exist in European countries and that terrorists are exploiting the migrant crisis in those countries to infiltrate the population. Clapper was asked by a reporter if the Islamic State had clandestine cells currently operating in countries including Germany and Italy. “Yes they do,” he said, citing heightened coordination intelligence community of terrorists operation in Europe. “We continue to see evidence on the part of ISIL in the countries you name.” Clapper made his remarks during a breakfast meeting with reporters in Washington D.C. hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. During the conversation, he shared what the intelligence community has learned about ISIS. “We’ve learned that they are fanatic, very operational security conscious their very mindful of that,” he said. “They have taken advantage to some extent the migrant crisis in Europe. Something which the nations, I think, have a growing awareness of.”… “On the one hand, the European Union incentives and drives to promote openness and free movement of people and goods, privacy, which is in some ways is in conflict with the responsibilities of each country as a nation state to protect the security of it’s borders of it’s people,” Clapper said.
“National Intelligence Director Clapper: Islamic State Exploiting Migrant Crisis In Europe
Cities, buildings falling down Ideal homes falling down These pictures I see on the wall Timeless leaders stand so tall Assassin in a hit and run Asia steals a new born son Evacuees and refugees Presidents and monarchies…
Slovenia is constructing its fence on the Croat border…..(video thanks to Armaros.)
Immigration jihad, or hijrah, is the migration or journey of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, later renamed by him to Medina, in the year 622 CE. It was after the hijrah that Muhammad for the first time became not just a preacher of religious ideas, but a political and military leader. That was what occasioned his new “revelations” exhorting his followers to commit violence against unbelievers. Significantly, the Islamic calendar counts the hijrah, not Muhammad’s birth or the occasion of his first “revelation,” as the beginning of Islam, implying that Islam is not fully itself without a political and military component.
RT’s Paula Slier reports from the front line in Northern Iraq where Kurdish resistance fighters say they can beat Islamic State forces without help from foreign boots on the ground.
“Paradise Lost” Kurdish Civilians: ‘ISIL is Afraid of Us’
Paradise is our native country, and we in this world be as exiles and strangers. Richard Greenham (1535-1594)
English: Oh foes who watch us, the nation whose language is Kurdish is alive It cannot be defeated by makers of weapons of any time Let no one say the Kurds are dead, the Kurds are alive The Kurds are alive and their flag will never fall We are the sons of the red colour of revolution Our history is one filled with blood Let no one say the Kurds are dead, the Kurds are alive The Kurds are alive and our flag will never fall We are the sons of the Medes and Kai Khosrow Our homeland is our faith and religion Let no one say the Kurds are dead, the Kurds are alive The Kurds are alive and our flag will never fall The Kurdish youth has risen like noble warriors To draw the crown of life with blood Let no one say the Kurds are dead, the Kurds are alive The Kurds are alive and our flag will never fall The Kurdish youth are ever-ready And always prepared to sacrifice their lives To sacrifice their lives, to sacrifice their lives.
This is Tragic and Cruel. The Rebels in Syria supposedly
to take over the Al-Hassad Regime, are now the ennemies.
I don’t think Bashar is laughing, but the situation put him now as an ally.. and an important one to cover a front, and a front that end with the border of Israel…
During his state visit to Greece in 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a forceful request that Greece agree to re-negotiate the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Pictured: Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on December 7, 2017. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
Defining the Threat
Defeating the Ideology
ISIS, Iraq and Syria
Iran
swissdefenceleague 