Meet Boston Bombing Suspect's Hero

SYDNEY, Australia – An irrefutable link to radical Islam has emerged with the Boston bombing brothers, with evidence that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was heavily influenced by a radical Islamic leader in Australia, Sheikh Faiz Mohammed, who repeatedly has called for the overthrow of the West and establishment of Islamic law .

Australian and U.S. authorities are investigating the possibility of direct communication between the deceased Tsarnaev and Mohammed, given it is clear that Tsarnaev engaged with the online teaching of the cleric on a consistent basis leading up to the attacks last week. In an interesting twist, both men shared a passion for boxing.

Mohammed is considered by several intelligence agencies as the “new Anwar al-Awlaki” , and noted for his worldwide influence in former U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s 2011 book “Ticking Time Bomb: Counter-Terrorism Lessons from the U.S. Government’s Failure to Prevent the Fort Hood Attack.” He studied Islam in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

His lectures frame the United States as the enemy of all Muslims, including those living in the United States and Americans living in other Western countries. He has regularly broadcast the sermons of al-Awlaki in the past, and was asked to remove them by Australian police .

Commonly referred to as Sheikh Faiz in the Australian Muslim community, and widely regarded as the country’s most dangerous sheikh , he has earned the ire of both his home state and federal government repeatedly, with several leading lawmakers making it clear he is not welcome in Australia. 

Despite this, and police raids and investigations, it appears the sheikh remains a resident and citizen of Australia; his current whereabouts unknown. With the temperature rising after a string of inflammatory fatwas, Mohammed left Australia to Lebanon in late November 2005, returning in 2011 .

If connected directly to the Boston bombing, this would not be his first involvement in terror. He was directly linked to a convicted Muslim terrorist whose plot to destroy the Israeli embassy in Australia’s capital city was foiled. 

It is clear that the sheikh has a prominent international presence, with videos showing lectures in Malaysia and the UK. In a British documentary called “Undercover Mosque,” Mohammed is broadcast saying “there is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a Muhajid.”

DVDs of his lectures were found being sold by children in the parking lot of a Birmingham mosque in the UK.
Immediately following the Benghazi attacks, the sheikh was linked to the Sydney riot and attempted attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sydney. Militant followers of Mohammad were key players in the first event of its kind on Australian soil. The Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah (ASWJ) and the self-styled Islamic Brotherhood Worldwide were believed to be behind a text message circulated bringing forward the protest.

Preaching an extreme version of Sunni Islam known as Salafism, Mohammed has  a long record of providing religious justification for Islamist terror violence, releasing DVDs urging parents to have their children die as jihadist martyrs, as “soldiers defending Islam,” and for young Muslims to declare jihad to kill infidel “non-believers.”

Claiming Jews are “pigs,” he further asserted that “anyone who tries to play with the sacred code of Shariah is kaffir… the only law for him is beheadness (sic), execution.”
He has also called for the decapitation or beheading of Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

In his preaching, the sheikh has described inmates of Guantanamo Bay as better Muslims than those in Australia, who would not forsake their lifestyles for martyrdom.
“The brothers in Cuba are better than us,” he said. “They are being examined through the best examination (a reference to God’s judgment) and the like of them worldwide.”

On rape, he said “she (the victim) has no one to blame but herself. She displayed her beauty to the entire world.
“Strapless, backless, sleeveless, showing their legs, nothing but satanic skirts, slit skirts, translucent blouses, miniskirts, tight jeans: all this to tease man and appeal to his carnal nature.

“Would you put this sheep that you adore in the middle of hungry wolves? No… It would be devoured. It’s the same situation here. You’re putting this precious girl in front of lustful, satanic eyes of hungry wolves.”

At least one of the sermons of the sheikh found on Tsarnaev’s YouTube playlist discussed the armies of Khoresan, a reference to a Muslim prophecy of an army from Central Asia that would inflict defeat upon the enemies of the faith, considered a direct reference to al-Qaida by Islamic experts .

That video:


In addition, Tsarnaev also posted a video of Mohammed teaching that Muslims are not proper followers of the faith unless they completely adhere to the entirety of the Sunnah – or rulings of Islamic scholars. These rules are not listed in the Quran.

Several other videos on Tsarnaev’s YouTube list have been deleted, with each video showing the message: “This video is no longer available.”
In another video that caught the attention of the now deceased bomber, Mohammed angrily condemns Harry Potter films, accusing them of promoting paganism, and accusing the main character of idolatry and labeling him an enemy of Allah.

According to Middle Eastern sources, there have been lingering suspicions that Mohammad is linked to Shaker al-Absi, an official from Fatah al-Islam, , a pro-al-Qaida group.
Mohammed has made no public comment or appearance since the Boston bombings. His whereabouts remain unknown, and previous places of worship, preaching and attendance, as well as key members of the Islamic community in Australia claim to have not seen him in months.

Source

Russians Now Alarmed by Boston Bombing

WASHINGTON – The April 15 Boston Marathon bombing, allegedly perpetrated by two Dagestani brothers who espouse Islamist radical support for jihad, has Russian officials now alarmed over security preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics that are to take place in Sochi, Russia, in the northern Caucasus, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Sochi is in southern Russia bordering a region in the North Caucasus where Sunni Islamists from Chechnya and the other Russian provinces of Ingushetia and Dagestan have increased attacks in recent years against the Russian security services.

The brothers, Tamerlan and Dzokhar Tsarnayev, originally were born in Dagestan.
The concern is so great that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama were in contact during the period following the Boston Marathon bombings.

The bombs detonated in Boston were made from pressure cookers and based on ingredients and preparation straight out of the al-Qaida magazine, Inspire.
Combined with websites of the brothers who allegedly perpetrated the bombings, the entire episode raised mounting concerns that Chechen sleeper cells were beginning to extend their revolt abroad, as they have done in past attacks in Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey.

The Boston bombing – whether associated or not with a renewed Chechen Islamist militant initiative – is playing politically into the hands of the Kremlin.
It underscores the need for Moscow to take a concerted initiative against the Islamist radicals in the three Russian provinces neighboring Sochi, which have become a hotbed for violent jihadists fighting to gain independence from Russia and to create the Caucasus Emirates which would be guided by Shariah law.

It also reinforces Putin’s plan to continue using violent methods to quell what he perceives as a rebellion in those provinces. During the first and second Chechen wars, Putin ordered massive troop intervention that left the province in virtual ruin, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of lives.
In turn, the Chechen insurgency has resulted in a series of kidnappings and attacks, including at a hospital in southern Russia.

In 2002, Chechen insurgents attacked a Moscow theater, resulting in the deaths of some 40 insurgents and 130 of some 800 hostages, most of whom were killed by noxious gas pumped into the theater by Russian commandos.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND. 

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U.S. Delivers Strong Warning to Israel

TEL AVIV – According to informed Middle Eastern security officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a strongly worded message to Israel – do not attack Iran.

The officials told WND that Hagel informed the Israeli government the Obama administration will not accept any unilateral Israeli attack against Iran and that Israel must not strike Tehran without coordination with the U.S.

Hagel further told Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot decide alone whether Iran has crossed the nuclear threshold, or the so-called Red Line previously outlined by the Israeli leader.

In a speech at the United Nations in September, Netanyahu drew a red line on a drawing of a bomb, depicting the point where he said Iran will have enough medium-enriched uranium to move rapidly toward building a nuclear bomb.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu draws a red line on the image of a bomb at the U.N. Sept. 27, 2012.

Netanyahu said at the U.N. that Iran could reach that point this spring or summer. By contrast, Obama has resisted setting any such deadlines.
Last week, Israel’s former military intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin, said, “If Iran continues to enrich uranium at its current rate, toward the end of the year it will cross the red line in a clear manner.”

The information comes after a former International Atomic Energy Agency senior nuclear inspector warned that Iran has discovered a way to circumvent Israel’s red line and that the red line may have already been passed.

Last fall, an IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program showed a dip in the amount of 20 percent enriched uranium. Commenting on the report, the former deputy director-general for safeguards at the IAEA and senior nuclear inspector Olli Heinonen explained in a recent opinion article how this decrease is likely a gimmick.

He wrote that Iran has the capability to reconvert the uranium material back to the gas needed for its nuclear program. The converted 20 percent enriched uranium, now in a less worrisome oxide form, can “be converted back into centrifuge feedstock within a week.”

Heinonen warned that Iran may be able to convert the uranium without risk of detection.
If, through this process, Iran can disguise the quantity of enriched uranium it actually possesses, then Israel’s so-called red line may be artificial.
Heinonen further argued Iran has already passed Netanyahu’s red line of 250 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium, estimating Tehran possess as much as 280 kilograms, excluding any material that has already gone through the conversion process.

Source

Evidence of God In An Age of Uncertainty

CBN.com –GOD’S NOT DEAD

Rice grew up in a nominal Christian home.  When he was a junior in college, Rice gave his heart to the Lord.  His brother, Ben was a junior in law school and wanted to meet Rice at their parents’ home to “talk him out of this born-again thing.”  As Rice listened to Ben and simply addressed his older brother’s doubts, the truth of God’s word began to soften Ben’s heart.

“I could see he was doubting his doubts,” says Rice.  At the end of the day, Rice batptized his brother in a swimming pool!  That was thirty years ago and a turning point for both men.  Ben gave his life to the Lord, is still serving God today and is a successful trial attorney in Texas.   Since that day, Rice began working primarily with university students around the world. 

Rice is also the senior pastor of Bethel World Outreach church in Nashville.  Some of the members of the nationally-acclaimed Christian music group, The Newsboys, attend his church and asked Rice to write a book to accompany their 2012 hit single, God’s Not Dead. So he did.  He says faith in God is rising but so is skepticism.

In 2012, Rice attended the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, Australia.  His goal was to simply listen and, after all of their rants, speaker after speaker ridiculed Christianity. “Atheists don’t have arguments; they have insults,” says Rice.  Faith is being framed as irrational and illogical. He further explains that real faith isn’t blind and includes not believing everything said in the name of “science.”

“The evidence that God exists is all around us and inside of us,” says Rice.  Atheists believe a story that the universe just happened, by chance, and that all of this life came from nothing.  Reason helps us sort out helpful beliefs from hurtful ones and demands that we examine claims made in the name of faith or science in the same way we would examine anything else.  Rice urges skeptics to wrestle with “blind faith” on which skepticism is based and to see how hard it is to justify those beliefs to those who do not share them.  He also urges believers to wrestle with their personal and culture’s objections to the faith.

NINE PROOFS

Rice offers nine proofs of evidence for God:

1. Real faith isn’t blind.  It is evidence-based and requires all our efforts in pursuit of the truth.
2. Good and evil are no illusions.  Evidence of evil is not evidence of God’s absence in the universe but evidence of His absence from our lives.
3. There was a beginning.  When someone asks for evidence of the existence of God, reference the fact that the universe itself demonstrates the reality of our God.
4. Life is no accident.  Life appears to be designed and the probability of this happening by chance is so vanishinly small that atheists have to propose an infinite number of universes to explain it away.
5. A pointless beginning points to a pointless existence.  We are created in the image of God, on purpose and for a purpose.
6. Jesus and the resurrection.  The death and resurrection of Christ verified His identity as the Son of God and proved His words were the words of God Himself.
7. The witness of Scripture.  The truth of the Bible speaks to the core issues of everyone’s life.
8. The grace effect.  Grace brings a deep sense of civility and compassion for one another.

Living proof.  There is no better time to demonstrate the reality of God through His presence that empowers us to go through the toughest times with the greatest of hope.

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"The Will of Allah" Reason For Son To Kill Christian Father

A 25-year-old Ohio man fatally shot his father as he was leaving Easter service and then entered the church and yelled at terrified parishioners that the killing was "the will of Allah," witnesses said.

"This is the will of God," Reshad Riddle screamed, still holding the pistol, as dozens of adults and small children cowered under pews at the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ in Ashtabula, according to the local Star Beacon newspaper.

"It was terrifying," associate pastor Sean Adams told the newspaper. "The children were screaming, and people were dialing 911. We were afraid to breathe."

Police arrived at the church soon after and quickly subdued Riddle.
No other shots were fired, and none of the roughly 175 other people attending the 1 p.m. service was injured, police said.
Riddle's father, Richard Riddle, 52, suffered a single gunshot wound to the head and was killed instantly.

Read more...

Boston Bombing Suspect Held Strong Anti-American, Anti-Christian Views

ABC News revealed that Dzhokhar and his older brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was shot down by police in Boston early Friday morning, had radicalized themselves over the Internet, but did not receive any direction or financing from overseas groups.

Authorities believe that the brothers, who were born in Chechnya but had lived in the U.S. for close to a decade, were likely inspired by former al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in 2011.

"The older brother appeared to be the more radicalized of the two and was the one that drove the need to conduct the attack as well as the preparation for the attack that is building the bombs," said Seth Jones, a counter-terror expert at the RAND Corporation.

The brothers apparently used an al Qaeda Internet magazine to make the pressure cooker bombs, with the attack being largely put together by Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The Boston Marathon bombing last week left three people dead and injured close to 200 others.

"This is kind of the al Qaeda modus operandi now, not relying only on operatives, but trying to get people do it yourself radicalization to build their own bombs without coming to a training camp in Pakistan or Yemen or other locations," Jones continued.

"They ad-libbed part of it and made some decisions on a few elements of the bomb making but what's different about this is they took a very simple recipe and then targeted the Boston Marathon. And why the marathon? Because it was there, essentially, and easy. Not long in the planning."

Three other U.S. officials who spoke under the condition of anonymity also confirmed with The Associated Press that they believe the brothers are not connected to any terrorist groups, but were likely motivated by a radical version of Islam. One of the officials called them "aspiring jihadists."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also apparently told authorities that his older brother had "disgust with things American and Christian," but officers have said they will continue investigating all the possible motives behind the attack and will not take the younger brother's claims without evidence.

"So with the Bible he believed that it was a cheap copy off the Koran and that it was used as an excuse for many wars fought by America to invade countries and take land away," said Elbrecht Ammon, one of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's neighbors. "He mentioned how America is a colonial power and wants to take as much land as possible and most casualties are innocent people shot down by American soldiers."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is still hospitalized and recovering from multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the throat from a possible suicide attempt, is going to be tried as a U.S. citizen and not as an enemy combatant, the White House revealed yesterday.

"Under U.S. law, United States citizens cannot be tried in military commissions. And it is important to remember that since 9/11 we have used the federal court system to convict and incarcerate hundreds of terrorists," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

Article courtesy Christian Today Australia

Why Have So Many Televangelists Been In Jail?

Newspapers, online magazines and bloggers across the coutry are buzzing this week about televangelist Juanita Bynum landing in jail.

The controversial prophetic preacher, recording artist and author was arrested and carted to Lew Sterrett Justice Center—and spent the night there—after failing to show up at a Dallas civil proceeding that named her as a defendant.
The case involves a judgment that ordered her to shell out $140,000 to ALW Entertainment. Apparently, she did not follow through on a commitment to perform in a play ALW was producing. Charisma News contacted Bynum's office Wednesday but did not receive a response.

Of course, Bynum is hardly the only television evangelist to sit behind bars. Last July, Maryland pastor Robert J. Freeman, a televangelist who lived in a $1.75 million home with five fireplaces and two four-car garages, was sentenced to 27 months in prison related to a bankruptcy case. Also known as "Dr. Shine," the charismatic pastor was convicted for hiding church assets so he could get out of paying a mountain of debt faith couldn't move.

"Freeman lived a life of fraud and deception, using millions of dollars from church members, and fraudulently obtained credit to pay for luxury cars and a mansion while falsely representing in court that he was indigent," Maryland U.S. attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement.

Who could forget televangelist Creflo Dollar landing in jail for allegedly choking his daughter? Charges were later dropped, but his mug shot appearing in media headlines caused quite a stir. Televangelist Eddie Long didn't land in jail, but the civil suits against him have piled up. Some hoped doomsday prophet and televangelist Harold Camping would be arrested for his false prophecies about the end of the world that led so many astray.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of televangelists who have had brushes with the law. But it was somewhat exhausting to recall all of these scandals. Believe me, I don't like reporting on them any more than you like reading them. But if we turn a blind eye to these issues—or let the secular media take the lead—we are neglecting our responsibility as Christian media. (I'm sure that statement will drive plenty of debate, but are we really supposed to ignore anything negative that happens in the body of Christ, even when it's all over the secular media? There's a difference between responsible reporting and heresy hunting.)

So I said all that to ask this: Why do so many televangelists land themselves in jail? Many famous Christian preachers have been in jail—I've been in jail—but that's supposed to be part of your pre-Christian testimony rather than the event that brings reproach on your ministry.

I'm not here to throw stones or drag anyone's name through the mud. But we need to deal with this problem in the church. So I'll ask the question once again: Why do so many televangelists land themselves in jail? Are they being falsely accused? Perhaps sometimes. Did they fall into temptation? Certainly that's happened. Did they slide into deception that greed introduces? I think that's the answer more times than not.

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New York's Times Square Next Intended Target: NYC Officials

NEW YORK -- The Boston Marathon bombers were headed for New York to blow up their remaining explosives in Times Square before they were intercepted by police in a blazing gunbattle, officials said Thursday.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told interrogators from his hospital bed that he and his older brother decided on the spur of the moment last Thursday night to drive to New York and launch an attack. In their stolen SUV they had five pipe bombs and a pressure-cooker explosive like the ones that blew up at the marathon, Kelly said.
The plan fell apart when the Tsarnaev brothers got into a shootout just outside Boston that left Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead, Kelly said.
----------------------------------

Pedestrians and cars traverse New York's Times Square, Thursday, April 25, 2013. (AP / Richard Drew)

New York City Police officers patrol in New York's Times Square, Thursday, April 25, 2013. (AP / Richard Drew)

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, left, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg hold a news conference in New York, Thursday, April, 25, 2013. (AP / Mark Lennihan)

This combination of undated photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. (The Lowell Sun and Robin Young) 
-------------------------
 

"We don't know if we would have been able to stop the terrorists had they arrived here from Boston," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "We're just thankful that we didn't have to find out that answer."

Dzhokhar, 19, is charged with carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260, and he could get the death penalty.
Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz in Boston, would not comment on whether authorities plan to add charges based on alleged plan to attack New York.

Investigators and lawmakers briefed by the FBI have said that the Tsarnaev brothers - ethnic Chechens from Russia who had lived in the U.S. for about a decade - were motivated by anger over the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Based on the younger man's interrogation and other evidence, authorities have said it appears so far that the Muslim brothers were radicalized via jihadi material on the Internet instead of by any direct contact with terrorist organizations, but they have said it is still an open question.

Dzhokhar was interrogated in his hospital room over a period of 16 hours without being read his constitutional rights. He immediately stopped talking after a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney's office entered the room and gave him his Miranda warning, according to a U.S. law enforcement official and others briefed on the interrogation.

Tamerlan had come under scrutiny from the FBI, the CIA and Russian intelligence well before the Boston attack. The CIA had added Tamerlan's name to a terrorist database 18 months ago, after Russian intelligence flagged him as a possible Muslim radical, said officials close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

That disclosure is certain to raise questions on Capitol Hill over whether the Obama administration missed an opportunity to thwart the Boston attack.
Kelly, citing interrogations carried out by the task force investigating the Boston Marathon attack, said that days after the bombing, the Tsarnaev brothers "planned to travel to Manhattan to detonate their remaining explosives in Times Square."

"They discussed this while driving around in a Mercedes SUV that they hijacked after they shot and killed the officer at MIT," the police commissioner said. "That plan, however, fell apart when they realized that the vehicle they hijacked was low on gas and ordered the driver to stop at a nearby gas station."

The driver escaped and called police, Kelly said. That set off the gunbattle and manhunt that ended a day later with Dzhokhar captured and 26-year-old Tamerlan dead.

A day earlier, Kelly said that Tsarnaev had talked about coming to New York "to party" after the attack and that there wasn't evidence of a plot against the city. But Kelly said a later interview with the suspect turned up the information.
"He was a lot more lucid and gave more detail in the second interrogation," Kelly said. He and the mayor were briefed on the information Wednesday night by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Kelly said there was no evidence New York was still a target. But in a show of force, police cruisers with blinking red lights were lined up in the middle of Times Square on Thursday afternoon, and uniformed officers stood shoulder to shoulder.

"Why are they standing like that? This is supposed to make me feel safer?" asked Elisabeth Bennecib, a tourist and legal consultant from Toulouse, France. "It makes me feel more anxious, like something bad is about to happen."

Above the square, an electronic news ticker announced that the Boston Marathon suspects' next target might have been Times Square.
In 2010, Times Square was targeted with a car bomb that never went off. Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad had planted a bomb in an SUV, but street vendors noticed smoke and it was disabled. Shahzad was arrested as he tried to leave the country and was sentenced to life in prison.

Meanwhile, the Tsarnaev brothers' father said Thursday that he is leaving Russia for the U.S. in the next day or two, but their mother said she was still thinking it over.
Anzor Tsarnaev has expressed a desire to go to the U.S. to find out what happened with his sons, defend his hospitalized son and, if possible, bring his older son's body back to Russia for burial.
Their mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, who was charged with shoplifting in the U.S. last summer, said she has been assured by lawyers that she would not be arrested, but was still deciding whether to go.

Read more: here

Boston Bombing Suspects Exhibited Extremism At Local Mosque

 Two ethnic Chechen brothers, suspected of the double bombings at the Boston marathon, attended a mosque in Cambridge Massachusetts. The bombs killed three and injured more than 170.  The older brother, now deceased, is accused of being argumentative about his religion, critical of those who weren’t conservative Muslims.

The two bombing suspects are seen in the background of many pictures taken by spectators.  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who wore a white baseball cap on the day of the bombing, is recovering at a Boston hospital after gunbattles with police.  He faces the death penalty if convicted on a federal charge of using a weapon of mass destruction.  His older brother, Tamerlan, who wore a black hat, was killed by police four days after the bombings.

Tamerlan attended Friday prayers and occasionally daily prayers at a mosque in Cambridge, outside of Boston.  Mosque officials say that twice, he created a scene, arguing with the preachers - once about observing Thanksgiving and the U.S. Independence Day. 

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  Photos of the two suspects near the finish line of Boston Marathon. Best viewed full screen. (Images courtesy Bob Leonard) 
  
  
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Iran Able to Destroy Israel 'Alone': Commander

Iran's army "alone" is able to destroy Israel, army commander General Ataollah Salehi said on Thursday, responding to boasts by the Jewish state that its military that could attack its archfoe on its own.

"Our message to this illegitimate regime (Israel) is the same, we do not need to utilise all of Iran's military forces," Salehi said on the sidelines of the Islamic republic's annual Army Day. "The army ... alone is able to destroy Israel."

His comments come after Israeli chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz on Tuesday said the Jewish state's military was capable of attacking Iran on its own without foreign support.

Asked in an interview on public radio if the military could wage attacks on Iran "alone" -- without the support of countries such as the United States -- Gantz replied: "Yes, absolutely."

Israel believes the Islamic republic, which has issued many bellicose statements about the Jewish state, is working to achieve a military nuclear capability and has not ruled out a military strike to prevent this happening.

Iran denies it is developing an atomic bomb and says it needs its nuclear programme of uranium enrichment for peaceful medical and energy purposes.
Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East's sole nuclear-armed state, albeit undeclared.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution Iran has had two military forces -- the regular army and the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, which controls the ballistic missile programme is believed by Western military experts to be the more powerful and the better equipped of the two.

During Thursday's military parade, Tehran displayed what it said were three newly-developed unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.

"The Sarir (throne) drone is a stealth, with a long range flight capability and is equipped with a cameras and air-to-air missiles," air defence commander Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said as the aircraft went on display along with two other new drones, the Hazem-3 (firm) and Mohajer-B (immigrant).
Iran says it is developing drones to be used for surveillance as well as for attacks.

The Islamic republic regularly boasts of advances in the military and scientific fields, but western military experts often cast doubt on its claims.

Source

Israel Ready to Act on Syria Weapons, Warns Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu: "Iran needs to know that if economic sanctions fail, there will be military action"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the BBC that Israel has a right to prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands in Syria.

He said that if terrorists seized anti-aircraft and chemical weapons they could be "game changers" in the region.

There have been growing calls for the international community to arm rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
But there is increasing concern that Islamist militants could use such weapons to further their own causes.

Israel has said its policy is not to get involved in the Syrian conflict.
But in recent months it has retaliated following Syrian firing into Israeli-controlled areas in the Golan Heights.

Israel first occupied the Golan Heights in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move that is not internationally recognised.
Mr Netanyahu, in an exclusive interview with the BBC's Lyse Doucet, said Israel's concern was "which rebels and which weapons?"

"The main arms of concern to us are the arms that are already in Syria - these are anti-aircraft weapons, these are chemical weapons and other very, very dangerous weapons that could be game changers," he said.

"They will change the conditions, the balance of power in the Middle East. They could present a terrorist threat on a worldwide scale. It is definitely our interest to defend ourselves, but we also think it is in the interest of other countries."
'Not aggressive'
 
Mr Netanyahu was in London to attend the funeral of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher, and also held talks with current Prime Minister David Cameron.

Asked if Israel would adopt a more aggressive military stance in Syria, Mr Netanyahu said: "We are not aggressive. We don't seek military confrontation, but we are prepared to defend ourselves if the need arises and I think people know that what I say is both measured and serious."

Mr Netanyahu would not confirm what was widely believed to have been an Israeli air strike on a suspected Syrian government weapons convoy in January.
It was reported that the convoy had been heading for Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.

Mr Netanyahu also reiterated his view that Iran and its nuclear programme posed a direct threat to world peace, which could only be stopped by a "direct military threat", not sanctions or tough diplomacy.

"Other countries, once they see Iran getting nuclear weapons, will rush to get their own nuclear weapons and then the Middle East will become a tinderbox," he said.
He added that the current North Korea crisis had shown world leaders what could happen when a rogue state acquired nuclear weapons.

"The entire world is paralysed [and] destabilised," Mr Netanyahu said.
"Iran is many times stronger than North Korea, both in GDP and aggressive tendencies. I think there's an interesting change of perception because people can understand what it would be like to have Iran with their imperial ambitions, with their messianic and apocalyptic ideology possess atomic bombs."

Asked about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Mr Netanyahu said the creation of a two-state solution depended "on the Palestinians".

"I'm ready to sit down. I think we shouldn't talk about the talks. We should just get on with it and try to negotiate a real lasting and defensible peace between us."

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Liberal, Not Conservative: The Tragedy of Margaret Thatcher

For the past seven days, the newspapers of the world have been plastered with photographs of Margaret Thatcher.

In a way, this alone is testimony to her achievements and import. It is hard to think of any politician anywhere - let alone a British Prime Minister - who exerted greater global influence over the last fifty year than did Mrs Thatcher.

But Mrs Thatcher's national and indeed international importance lies not so much in her deeds, as in the way that she personified an ideology that purported to be universal - and to all intents and purposes succeeded in being just that.
She led through ideas, and insofar as she came to embody those ideas, they gave her a reach beyond the normal span of a successful political life. That complex of ideas (now commonly termed "neoliberal") were so totally defined by their association with Mrs Thatcher that they have hence become known as Thatcherism.

Whereas her fellow traveller Ronald Regan understood this new approach intuitively, Mrs Thatcher grasped them conceptually and repeated them as such with great success - for it is concepts, not intuitions, that transcend time-zones, languages and nations. So what are these ideas that constitute Thatcherism?

Most fundamentally:
* an extreme, almost religious, individualism;
* a critique of the state and of state-collectivism, derived almost in its entirety from Hayek; and
* an unabashed and wholly uncritical adherence to free-market liberalism, along with the privatisation programs it advocated as its proxy.

Her unique fusion of these three ideas comprises, to my mind, the ongoing global legacy of Thatcherism.

Domestically, this complex of ideas was allied to a rigorous British nationalism, a contempt for European social democracy, and a deep loathing of communism, trade unionism and any other form of institution captured (in her mind) by socialists - local government being, perhaps, the best example.

Moreover, the sheer ideological consistency of Thatcherism was bolstered by an almost preternatural determination to carry out her vision and policies.
There is little doubt that when the entire post-war capitalist system in the West collapsed in the 1970s, Mrs Thatcher and her colleagues were among the first politicians in the developed world to recognise the crisis and respond.

Chosen as the first female leader of the Conservative party in 1975, and then elected as the first female British Prime Minister in 1979, Mrs Thatcher faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge.

Since the early 1960s, Britain had been a basket case, paralysed by falling productivity, rampant inflation, a wage-price spiral and unprecedented trade union militancy. The growth rate in Britain trailed far behind its European neighbours, and many Britons feared being relegated to the status of a second- or third-class nation.

It is thus part of her enduring legacy that by the end of Mrs Thatcher's term in office, Britain had recovered its place at one of the world's leading powers and the most influential country in Europe.

It was the perceived success of the economic rescue job that Mrs Thatcher performed on the UK that gave her international cachet - from Chile to China, her advocacy of market-based solutions to social problems became the dominant political orthodoxy.

The British turnaround did indeed look remarkable, as the Economist recently eulogised: the UK's "inflation rate fell from a high of 27 per cent to 2.4 per cent in 1986, the number of working days lost to strikes fell from 29 million in 1979 to two million in 1986."

Thus, its leader concluded, "what the world needs now is more Thatcherism, not less."

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Turkey: Al-Qaida Cell Planned to Bomb U.S. Embassy, Synagogue

Police find large amount of explosives, firearms and laptops in raid on two Istanbul houses; targets included U.S. Embassy in Ankara and a synagogue in Istanbul's Balat district.

Police officers standing guard at the scene where a bomb explosion took place in central       Istanbul,  March 1, 2012. Photo by Reuters

 

 

Turkish police said Friday they exposed a plot by a cell linked to Al-Qaida to bomb American and Jewish targets in the country, local media outlets reported.

The reports said two of the targets on the list were the United States Embassy in Ankara and a synagogue in Istanbul.

According to the reports, the information was gathered during a two-year operation in which the police was monitoring an Al-Qaida member who received training at the organization's camps in Afghanistan.
The operation led the police to two cell houses near Istanbul, where they found what was described as serious amounts of explosives ready to be detonated. Police, reports added, also seized six laptop computers, rifles and guns. Twelve people were arrested during the raid, police officials said, including eight Turks, two Chechens and two Azeris.

Forensic examination of the six laptops and documets police obtained revealed that the cell was preparing attacks on popular Turkish television personalities, besides plans to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, a synagogue in Istanbul's Balat district and a private museum. It was said that documents included photographs and floor plans of the targets along with other information concerning the targets.

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Leaving Islam in the Age of Islamism

                                                                        By Mohamed Abdelfattah

What would prompt a former youth member of the Muslim Brotherhood to declare that he is putting his belief in Islam “on hold”? What would convert young people to become not only non-religious but extremely anti-theist following long periods of activism with Egypt’s ultra-conservative Wahhabi club, the Salafis?

What I said may be surprising for many, but not for others. The past several years have witnessed every single young man or woman with a shred of critical thinking to leave the Islamist movement.

Starting with the Egyptian revolution and the Islamists’ shameful position against it, young middle class educated members have ever since continued to trickle out.

But this mere organisational friction is not the subject of this article. What I intend to expound on is more far-reaching. It’s about those often-silent people who decided to abandon faith completely as a result of their faithful experiences.

“I’ve decided to put Islam on hold as a religion,” wrote former Muslim Brotherhood activist Osama Dorra in his blog post. “For the conflict I’ve found between some of its details and what I think is sanity, justice, and logic has reached an inconceivable limit.”

The young Islamist dropout was courageous enough to come out with these views publicly on his blog. For days comments and shares continued to fuel the discussion. Islamists and their acolytes, who may have one day been shoulder to shoulder with Dorra, were unable to discredit his opinion as simply a fake conspiracy against Islam. Hence, I guess, they were more than cautious not to take him to court.

In any case, Dorra’s “Flying high above religion” blog post was later followed by other articles that suggested more revisionist takes on his initial position.

On the other hand, Islamists themselves have been paying the price of coming out publicly with their archaic and medieval views. For decades, these views were only voiced in underground audio cassettes and cheap booklets when they were long repressed. But as they came to power, they have now realised there is a price tag on every statement.

You could now find uncompromising Salafi TV preachers legitimising profanity and insults. Or the more bizarre Yasser Borhamy of the Salafi movement rejecting a clear ban on slavery in the constitution because he thinks slavery is not necessarily un-Islamic. Or take his other comment that Muslims should hate Christians from a Godly point of view. The list can go on and on to illustrate why a youth born into the 21^st century may feel alienated by the whole religious establishment.

“Although the Islamist movement managed to reach power, it has been unprecedentedly dethroned from the hearts of many Egyptians,” so lamented Nageh Ibrahim the founder of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya in a recent article in Al-Masry Al-Youm. Several other preachers have said multiple times recently on TV that Al-Da’wa, or proselytising for Islam, has been losing a lot of credibility as a result of politics.

The issue of rising religious skepticism has been noticed by many. It has taken space in much of the local press and several opinion pieces. But it’s been petty stuff. Instead of defending someone’s right to disbelieve, it’s being treated as a problem that needs confrontation. Instead of presenting a seething critique of the most backward and reactionary ideologies, a self-styled intelligentsia is acquiescing to the Islamist framework in its weakest of times.

A growing generation of skeptics and atheists is increasingly coming to the fore. They are regarding religion, in practice, as at worst harmful and at best unnecessary.

Osama Dorra might be one example of a man who came out with his views. But the numerous others that we know very closely in our social circles prefer not to take the heat at the moment.

Islamists rising to power has not yielded their much-awaited fantasised moment of everything-turning-Islamic. Instead, it’s contributing to an unprecedented wave of skepticism, social secularisation and atheism. Young people feeling alienated by every Friday sermon that lacks substance or labels all non-Islamists as heretics and un-Egyptian are moving away from religion and “flying high above.”

“The Arab Spring has shaken our confidence in everything that preceded the revolution. And it has become clear that all the fundamental assumptions our life was based on were not completely sound,” wrote Dorra.

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South Korea 'Deploys Warships to Track North Missiles'

 

South Korea has deployed two warships with missile-defence systems, reports say, a day after the North apparently moved a missile to its east coast.

Military officials told South Korean media the two warships would be deployed on the east and west coasts.

Seoul has played down the North's missile move, saying it may be for a test rather than a hostile act.
Separately, Pyongyang told foreign embassies it could not guarantee their safety in the event of conflict.

British diplomats said on Friday the North had asked them to respond by 10 April on what support the embassy would need in the event of any evacuation.
But anecdotal reports from inside the capital, Pyongyang, say the mood there is calm, and many believe North Korea is deliberately trying to create a sense of crisis, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul.
In recent weeks, the North has ramped up its rhetoric and made specific threats to target US territory.

One of the targets named by Pyongyang was the Pacific island of Guam, which hosts a US military base.

On Thursday, the US confirmed it would deploy a missile-defence system to Guam in response to the threats.
"The moves that we have been making are designed to ensure and to reassure the American people and our allies that we can defend the United States," said state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

South Korea's foreign minister told MPs on Thursday that the North had moved a missile to the east coast, which is the location for previous military tests.

Footage has been shown on state television of North Korean President Kim Jong-un watching a military drill

Unconfirmed reports on Friday said the North had moved two missiles, and had loaded them on to launchers.

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What Does the Resurrection of Jesus Actually Mean for Us, Here and Now?

I want you to imagine that you go to a dear friend's funeral. He died suddenly, violently a few days ago. You, his other friends and family are sitting in the pews – shell shocked – waiting for the service begin. But before it does, the guy who's supposed to have died walks in and sits down next to you.

How would you respond?

Chances are you wouldn't even look at him or recognise him, because he's not meant to be there. He's supposed to be dead. He's the guy in the coffin right? Quickly the rumour springs up -there's a buzz around the crowd - He's not dead.
So someone goes and pries open the coffin. It's ... empty.
Confused? Shocked? Even a little scared?
All of the above.

They Were All Confused – Resurrections Have that Effect!

So imagine how poor old Mary Magdalene felt:
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabbouni! (which means Teacher). (John 20:11-15)

You have to have a chuckle – fancy mistaking the risen Jesus for ... the gardener! She's still living that one down, 2,000 years on!!
Resurrections, by and large are confusing exercises. Why? Because they're completely unnatural. Completely! You just don't expect them to happen. Ever. But this one did.

Then There's that Other Resurrection ...

And there's another resurrection that Jesus is vitally interested. Yours.
Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

And most people find their own resurrection equally confusing. They know the theory of course, those Christians who fill the pews on Resurrection Morning each year. The theory is that because Jesus rose again, those who believe in Him have a new life which goes on for all eternity.
See how easily the theory rolls off the tongue?!

But the practice? Well that's another thing entirely because you look around and many – dare I say, most - of Jesus' disciples today seem to be clueless when it comes to living that new life.

Laying Hold of Your Resurrection

In the book of Colossians we discover that not only is Jesus the firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15) but He is also the firstborn from the dead – the first, as it turns out, of many. (Col 1:18)
If you are one of His disciples, can I ask you quietly, plainly today – Are you living in the newness of life that we celebrate on Resurrection Morning? Do you have a sharpness, a clarity around your new life in Christ? Or are you still muddling around in confusion like Mary Magdalene and hosts of others?

The real, tangible, here and now expression of what happened on that amazing morning, is the newness of life in which you and I are meant to be living. And if you're not – I'm sorry, but ... listen carefully .... you are wasting your life. The new life that Jesus died and rose again to bring you.
Act 1 of Easter: Forgiveness through the death of Jesus on the Cross
Act 2 of Easter: Newness of life, through the resurrection of Jesus and the empty tomb.

In other words, the forgiveness wasn't so we could do nothing with it. The forgiveness has a purpose in mind; reconciliation and a new life.
And your newness of life isn't just for you either. It too has a purpose in God's plan – to spread more life around this dying world in which we live:
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:17-21)

Not only do we have a new life, not only has He reconciled us to Himself – but He has entrusted us with that same message of reconciliation, making you and me ambassadors for Christ.
God's plan is to make His appeal through you and me my friend, just as He made it through Paul and his co-workers back then.
So please, please don't just sit there and go through the motions this Easter.
All the old things have passed away; look, everything is new ... and you and I, we have a job to do.

Berni Dymet - adifferentperspective.org

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