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U.S. Attack Would Spark ‘Ball of Fire’ in ‘Whole Middle East,’ Syrian Official Warns

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Syrian government warned the United States not to launch any military action against Damascus over an alleged chemical attack, saying such a move would set the Middle East ablaze.

“The basic repercussion would be a ball of fire that would burn not only Syria but the whole Middle East,” said Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi in an interview with Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV, dismissing the likelihood of American military intervention. “An attack on Syria would be no easy trip.”

The Syrian government also accused rebels of using chemical weapons Saturday. The accusations by the regime of President Bashar Assad against opposition forces came as an international aid group said it has tallied 355 deaths from a purported chemical weapons attack on Wednesday in a suburb of the Syrian capital known as Ghouta.

Syria is intertwined in alliances with Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Palestinian militant groups. The country also borders its longtime foe and U.S. ally Israel, making the fallout from military action unpredictable.

Violence in Syria has already spilled over the past year to Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Battle-hardened Hezbollah fighters have joined the combat alongside Assad’s forces.

Read more from this story HERE.

Which Nations Hate The U.S.? Often Those Receiving U.S. Aid

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Photo Credit: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty ImagesTo figure out which countries dislike the U.S., one quick way is to simply look at which ones are getting the largest dollops of U.S. aid.

This wasn’t the focus of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. But it did emerge when Pew spoke to people in 39 countries about the U.S. and China, asking respondents if they had a favorable view of these two countries.

Overall, the U.S. fared better than China. Worldwide, 63 percent said they had a positive view of the U.S., compared with only 50 percent who said the same of China.

This general trend was true in every region except in the Middle East. There, animosity toward the U.S. runs high, and the countries getting the most American assistance also tended to be some of the most antagonistic toward the U.S.

— In Egypt, which gets $1.5 billion a year from the U.S., only 16 percent had a positive view of the U.S. We should note the Pew survey was taken this past spring, before the recent upheaval in Egypt that has unleashed a wave of anti-American invective that may well have pushed that approval rating even lower.

Read more from this story HERE.

Morsi’s Overthrow: Bad News for Muslim Brotherhood, But is it Good News for Anyone?

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By AFP/GettyA Crisis in Competence

By Richard Fernandez. The overthrow of Morsi in Egypt is bad news for the Muslim Brotherhood. But is it good news for anyone?

…Lee Smith of Tablet magazine examines the chances that the new Egyptian leaders will try to divert popular discontent by making war on Israel. But he rightly notes that the Egyptian army knows it will get its ass kicked. Its chances at returning to economic power after such a defeat are diminished, and therefore a diversionary war with Israel, while possible, is probably irrational. The only thing keeping such a lunatic option on the table is the situation itself is irrational.

The big international losers in recent events are probably Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Obama administration. The big winners are the Egyptian army, Saudi Arabia, and, possibly, al-Qaeda. In a much re-Tweeted post, Kirsten Powers wrote, “Obama on the wrong side of history twice in Egypt.” Kori Schake at Foreign Policy writes, “U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has achieved the hat trick of alienating all factions in Egypt.”

Perhaps the most scathing critique comes from Josh Rogin and Eli Lake at the Daily Beast. “Obama Offers a Revisionist History of His Administration’s Approach to Egypt.” In other words, having lost in history’s accounting, Obama is now resorting to the pathetic exercise of trying to rewrite it.

But the most cruel cut of all comes from the New York Times, which notes that while Shi’a fought against Sunni, Syria exploded into flames, Egypt was riven by discord, and Lebanon was wracked by near civil war, the administration focused its efforts on things like stopping apartment construction in Israel…Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/GettyEgypt prepares for backlash as Morsi allies reject new regime

By Martin Chulov and Patrick Kingsley. Egypt is braced for further dramatic events on Friday as the vanquished Muslim Brotherhood called for a “day of rejection” following a widespread crackdown on its leadership by the country’s new interim president, Adly Mansour.

Supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi, still reeling from the military coup that removed their leader from power, are expected to take to the streets after Friday prayers following a series of raids and arrests that decimated the Muslim Brotherhood’s senior ranks and consolidated the miltary’s hold on the country.

In a stark sign of Egypt’s new political reality, the group’s supreme leader, Mohamed al-Badie, who was untouchable under Morsi’s rule, was one of those arrested.

Gehad el-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, said: “We are being headhunted all over the country. We are holding a mass rally after Friday prayers to take all peaceful steps necessary to bring down this coup.” He called for demonstrations to be peaceful, despite fears that anger may spill over into violence.

State prosecutors announced on Thursday that Morsi, who is in military custody, would face an investigation starting next week into claims that he had “insulted the presidency” – a move that would appear to put an end to any hopes of a political resurrection. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: ReutersEgypt hasn’t spoiled gas-price dip — yet

By Talia Buford. Motorists hitting the highways over the Independence Day holiday are paying the lowest prices at the pump they’ve seen all year — but turmoil in Egypt and other trouble for the oil markets mean the good times may not last.

The average price of regular gasoline sank 5 cents in the past week to $3.48 a gallon on Thursday, AAA said, bringing the decline in the national average to 14 cents in the past month.

Some of the steepest drops have been in the Midwest, where retail gasoline prices tumbled by $1 per gallon since the beginning of June as refineries that had been shut for maintenance came back on line.

But rising tensions in Egypt are worrying oil traders and helped push U.S. crude prices above $101 a barrel to the highest level in 14 months Wednesday. On Thursday they leveled off slightly but held at around $101.

Egypt may not produce much oil, but it controls the Suez Canal, a key choke point for oil tanker traffic in the Middle East — and any hint of shipping delays will ripple down to gasoline prices quickly. Even though U.S. oil production is climbing at a record pace, oil prices are still set by the global market. Read more from this story HERE.

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By AFP/GettyRival gangs gearing up for battle after Egypt’s military coup: Pro-Morsi supporters set to protest over coup following Friday prayers

By DAVID WILLIAMS, JAMES RUSH and SIMON TOMLINSON. Egypt’s interim leader, Adli Mansour, used his inauguration to hold out an olive branch to the Brotherhood and promised elections – without indicating when they would be.

‘The Muslim Brotherhood are part of this people and are invited to participate in building the nation as nobody will be excluded, and if they respond to the invitation, they will be welcomed,’ said the senior judge. Promising to safeguard ‘the spirit of the revolution’ that removed Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011, he said he would ‘put an end to the idea of worshipping the leader’.

Elections would be held based on ‘the genuine people’s will, not a fraudulent one,’ he added. ‘This is the only way for a brighter future, a freer future, a more democratic one.’

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon appealed for calm and restraint, as well as the preservation of rights such as freedom of expression and assembly.

‘Many Egyptians in their protests have voiced deep frustrations and legitimate concerns,’ he said in a statement that did not condemn the move against Mr Morsi. ‘At the same time, military interference in the affairs of any state is of concern,’ he said. ‘Therefore, it will be crucial to quickly reinforce civilian rule in accordance with principles of democracy.’ Mr Morsi’s dramatic removal by the military after a year in office marked another twist in the turmoil that has gripped the Arab world’s most populous country in the two years since the fall of Mubarak. Read more from this story HERE.

Middle East Tinderbox Getting Ready to Ignite?

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Photo Credit: AFPSyria has put its most advanced missiles on standby with orders to hit Tel Aviv if Israel launches another strike on its territory, The Sunday Times reported overnight Sunday.

According to the British newspaper, reconnaissance satellites have been monitoring preparations by the Syrian army to deploy surface-to-surface Tishreen missiles.

An Israeli official told The New York Times that Israel, which has launched three recent attacks on Syria, was considering further strikes and warned President Bashar Assad that his government would face “crippling consequences” if he hit back at Israel.

The Sunday Times said the deployment of the Syrian-made Tishreen missiles, each of which can carry a half-ton payload, marks a significant escalation of tension “in a region in which the United States and Russia appear to be preparing for a Cold War-style stand-off.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Rep. Louie Gohmert: A 'Conservative Firebrand'

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Photo Credit: Getty Images Below is the transcript of an interview conducted with Louie Gohmert as he walked back to his office after a Fox Business Network television appearance on Capitol Hill. In the interview, Gohmert discusses the state of the GOP, President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, and whether he has considered running for Senate…

What do you think the 2012 election said about the GOP? A lot of commentators say it showed that the GOP has to change on immigration or become supportive of gay marriage to remain competitive. How do you see it?

I think if we had done the things we promised that we wouldn’t be told that now we have to pander. You know, Scott Walker showed if you make promises and you do what you promise, you don’t have to pander. And, you know, Chris Christie has done somewhat the same thing. You make promises when you’re running, and keep your promises. And even when people disagree with you or don’t like you, they will look upon you as being a person of honor and they’ll respect you and you will be elected again. It’s just that people are so hungry for elected officials that will do what they say and say what they’ll do and keep those promises.

So you don’t accept the argument that the country is changing and the Republican Party has to change with it?

The country is always changing and we do need to change, and by changing we change the way we message, but there are some things — like honest, integrity — those kind of values that never go out of vogue. And I think people are hungry for honesty and integrity and I think that’s where we need to be — not pandering. And I also think if we start making the kind of changes that you’ve talked about policy-wise, even though they’re diametrically opposed to what we’ve said when we’ve been elected, I don’ think we’ll come back. People would rather have somebody of honor and integrity. I mean look at [George] Washington. People disagreed with him. He didn’t have 100 percent agreement on a whole lot of things, but he was a man of integrity and kept his word and that’s why we still celebrate him today, in addition to being very brave.

Read more from this story HERE.

Pentagon Reaches Deal on $10 Billion Arms Sale to Middle East Allies

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Photo Credit: gregwest98

The Pentagon announced Friday that it has reached a preliminary agreement on a complex $10 billion arms deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in what would represent the latest major weapons sale to U.S. allies in the Middle East.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will attempt to finalize the arms package next week when he is scheduled to visit the three countries. Ultimately, the deal will need the assent of Congress. Defense officials said they have kept lawmakers apprised of the negotiations and revealed basics of the agreement to lawmakers on Thursday.

Under terms of the deal, the United States would deliver V-22 Osprey transport aircraft, KC-135 refueling planes and anti-radiation missiles to Israel; about two dozen F-16 warplanes to the UAE; and advanced aircraft missiles to the Saudis and the Emiratis. News of the pact was first reported Friday by the New York Times.

U.S. officials indicated that the weapons are designed to boost each country’s military capabilities in the event of a conflict with Iran. “The common threats that we, the Israelis, Saudis and Emiratis, have are clear,” a senior defense official told reporters at the Pentagon on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not received final approval.

Read more from this story HERE.

USA Today: The War on Christians

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Photo Credit: AP

“Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.” So asserted German Chancellor Angela Merkel late last year, causing a stir. Merkel echoed a concern expressed by then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who warned in a 2011 speech that Christians face a “particularly wicked program of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing.”

Not ‘War on Christmas’

Now, this is not about clerks who say “Happy Holidays” or bans of nativity scenes in public schools. Merkel spoke of real persecution of hundreds of millions of Christians around the world. Indeed, a 2011 Pew Forum study found that Christians are harassed in 130 countries, more than any of the world’s other religions.

The just-released book Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians provides the gory details behind these statistics. Persecuted is a collaboration of the Hudson Institute’s Nina Shea, Paul Marshall and Lela Gilbert to catalog the human rights abuses visited upon Christian believers from North Korea to Mali. They define this persecution as Christians “who are tortured, raped, imprisoned, or killed for their faith.” It’s a worldwide phenomenon, but Shea points out a troubling acceleration in the cradle of Christianity’s birth: the Middle East and North Africa. As London Guardian columnist Rupert Shortt wrote in January, “The religious ecology of the Middle East looks more fragile than ever, as the Arab Spring gives way to Christian Winter.”

Tragically, Christians have been forced to abandon homelands they have occupied for thousands of years. Up to two-thirds of Christians have fled Iraq in the past ten years to escape massacres, church burnings and constant death threats. Many Christians fled to Syria, where they are experiencing persecution anew. In Iran, U.S. pastor Saeed Abedini has been sentenced to eight years in prison for preaching Christianity.

Read more from this story HERE.

As the World's Christians Celebrate Easter, Pope Francis Makes Plea For Mideast Peace

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Photo Credit: Alessandra Tarantino

By Frances D’Emilio. Pope Francis delivered a plea for peace in his first Easter Sunday message to the world, decrying the seemingly endless conflicts in the Middle East and on the Korean Ppeninsula after celebrating Mass along with more than 250,000 faithful.

After the Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Francis shared in the crowd’s exuberance as they celebrated the belief that Jesus Christ rose from the dead following crucifixion. Aboard an open-topped popemobile, Francis took a lighthearted spin through the joyous gatherers, kissing babies and patting children on the head.

One admirer of the pope and the pope’s favorite soccer team, Argentina’s Saints of San Lorenzo, insisted that Francis take a team jersey he was waving at the pontiff. A delighted Francis obliged, briefly holding up the shirt.

Since the start of his papacy on March 13, Francis repeatedly has put his concern for the poor and suffering at the center of his messages, and the Easter speech he delivered from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica reflected his push for peace and social justice.

He said he wished a “Happy Easter” greeting could reach “every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons.” Francis prayed that Christ would help people “change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.” Read more from this story HERE.

Pope Francis’s First Easter Message

By Pope Francis. Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world, Happy Easter! Happy Easter!

What a joy it is for me to announce this message: Christ is risen! I would like it to go out to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons.

Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of God always triumphs!

We too, like the women who were Jesus’ disciples, who went to the tomb and found it empty, may wonder what this event means (cf. Lk 24:4). What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom. The love God can do this!

This same love for which the Son of God became man and followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell – to the abyss of separation from God – this same merciful love has flooded with light the dead body of Jesus, has transfigured it, has made it pass into eternal life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to earthly life, but entered into the glorious life of God and he entered there with our humanity, opening us to a future of hope.

This is what Easter is: it is the exodus, the passage of human beings from slavery to sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness. Because God is life, life alone, and we are his glory: the living man (cf. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, 4,20,5-7).
Dear brothers and sisters, Christ died and rose once for all, and for everyone, but the power of the Resurrection, this passover from slavery to evil to the freedom of goodness, must be accomplished in every age, in our concrete existence, in our everyday lives. How many deserts, even today, do human beings need to cross! Above all, the desert within, when we have no love for God or neighbour, when we fail to realize that we are guardians of all that the Creator has given us and continues to give us. God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14).

So this is the invitation which I address to everyone: Let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish.

And so we ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace. Yes, Christ is our peace, and through him we implore peace for all the world.

Peace for the Middle East, and particularly between Israelis and Palestinians, who struggle to find the road of agreement, that they may willingly and courageously resume negotiations to end a conflict that has lasted all too long. Peace in Iraq, that every act of violence may end, and above all for dear Syria, for its people torn by conflict and for the many refugees who await help and comfort. How much blood has been shed! And how much suffering must there still be before a political solution to the crisis will be found?

Peace for Africa, still the scene of violent conflicts. In Mali, may unity and stability be restored; in Nigeria, where attacks sadly continue, gravely threatening the lives of many innocent people, and where great numbers of persons, including children, are held hostage by terrorist groups. Peace in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Central African Republic, where many have been forced to leave their homes and continue to live in fear.

Peace in Asia, above all on the Korean peninsula: may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow.

Peace in the whole world, still divided by greed looking for easy gain, wounded by the selfishness which threatens human life and the family, selfishness that continues in human trafficking, the most extensive form of slavery in this twenty-first century; human trafficking is the most extensive form of slavery in this twenty-first century! Peace to the whole world, torn apart by violence linked to drug trafficking and by the iniquitous exploitation of natural resources! Peace to this our Earth! Made the risen Jesus bring comfort to the victims of natural disasters and make us responsible guardians of creation.

Dear brothers and sisters, to all of you who are listening to me, from Rome and from all over of the world, I address the invitation of the Psalm: “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever. Let Israel say: ‘His steadfast love endures for ever'” (Ps 117:1-2).

Greeting
Dear Brothers and Sisters, to you who have come from all over the world to this Square at the heart of Christianity, and to you linked by modern technology, I repeat my greeting: Happy Easter!

Bear in your families and in your countries the message of joy, hope and peace which every year, on this day, is powerfully renewed.

May the risen Lord, the conqueror of sin and death, be a support to you all, especially to the weakest and neediest. Thank you for your presence and for the witness of your faith. A thought and a special thank-you for the beautiful flowers, which come from the Netherlands. To all of you I affectionately say again: may the risen Christ guide all of you and the whole of humanity on the paths of justice, love and peace.
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Copyright Vatican Publishing House

Sean Hannity Says Yasir Arafat Is The Father Of Modern Terror, But Arafat Learned From Ireland’s Michael Collins

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Photo Credit: IrishCentral

President Obama’s trip to the Middle East saw him making speeches and conferring with Israeli, as well as Palestinian leaders. While Obama was in Ramallah with Palestinian President Abbas, they held a joint press conference. Unfortunately for President Obama, the optics didn’t look good as he addressed the assembled journalists under a Yasir Arafat banner.

Arafat probably one of the worlds most renowned terrorists before Osama Bin laden came on the scene, is responsible for thousands of deaths to innocent civilians. For a President of the United States to be caught under a poster of this man, is an extremely bad gaffe. The photos will be used as propaganda by many groups around the world to recruit terrorists.

According to the group known as the “Committee for Accuracy in Mideast Reporting in America,” Arafat is the father of modern day terrorism. Perhaps that is why Sean Hannity echoed that opinion today on his radio show, as he railed against the President getting caught under the Arafat poster. See list of Arafats terror strikes here.

But modern day terror tactics were not an invention of Yasir Arafat, they were in fact invented by Ireland’s military leader and brilliant tactician, Michael Collins. Many consider him to be the father of modern day terror tactics as well as the father of the Irish Republic.

In 1916 Collins invented those tactics as he sat in a Welsh prison…put their by the British. Those tactics as employed by his Irish Republican Army, forced the British to the bargaining table after centuries of effort by Ireland’s citizens failed to do it.

According to terrorism expert James Biesterfield in a very informative article published in IrishCentral, September, 2011:

From a purely analytic viewpoint, Michael Collins was absolutely critical in the advancement of modern terrorist & insurgency organizations. In following the timeline through the 20th Century terrorist groups, it appears that virtually ALL groups have and are following, the IRA Model.

The PLO and Yasser Arafat used and improved upon this model in the 1960’s/ 70’s. This led to a vast number of terrorist fighters from all over the world attending training at PLO camps located in Libya during this period. Following this, we began to see cooperative efforts on the part of terrorist groups (i.e. Lod Airport, Rome Airport, Mogadishu, etc).

For good or bad, credit should be given where due. One mans freedom fighter can be another mans terrorist.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Revise U.S. military strategy now!

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Thirty-one U.S. special operations forces (Navy Seal 6 members reportedly) killed in a helicopter crash Saturday morning in Afghanistan south of Kabul may have been victims of a Taliban shoulder-held missile.

Iran is controlling the future of Iraq more and more each day. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the Iranian general “secretly running” Iraq and commander of the al-Quds Force, has so much Iraqi influence that Baghdadis believe he is controlling the country. The commander of the Iranian al-Quds force controls more of what goes on inside Iraq than the United States does. There appear to be no achievable victories for the United States in either country.

To date, government security policy elitists in the United States government have demonstrated almost complete ignorance toward revised, adaptive and forward strategic planning. While virtually every military officer and many policy “wonks” have been taught strategic planning at some level, it is obvious many have thrown most of the lessons out the door upon graduating. This is demonstrated more than ever by our senior generals, admirals and Defense, State Department and intelligence political appointees. One only need observe the international scene and turmoil in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

The time is now to change strategy and reposition our forces for present and future operations. This mythical counterinsurgency, or COIN, strategy must cease immediately. These so-called decision makers have bankrupted the United States and are decimating our armed forces by continuing critical budget cuts, wearing out our military equipment and wearing down our force structure with extended operations in the Middle East. It’s just what our enemies like to see.

We must reposition our forces now and change our global strategy. I implore the generals and admirals to take charge and do what is right for America.

Read More at WND  By Paul E. Vallely, WorldNetDaily