CONVERSATION
As Arab regimes are shaken allies and foes ponder the future/ Ghassan Michel Rubeiz
The Arab political coma is over. The spirit of Tunisia is in the Arab psyche. The knees of Arab despots are shaking in North Africa, West Asia and the Gulf states.
It is not only Arabs that are reviewing their priorities and thinking of the future. Israel, having for too long taken advantage of fratricidal regional politics, is now perturbed about Arab awakening. Israel should know that a reforming Arab world would ask for better terms in return for lasting peace.
Claiming to be neutral to Arab revolts, Washington is on the defensive. The White House gives pastoral advice to dictators, while it ignores its complicity in building intimate alliances with the most objectionable of regimes in the region.
Three contagious forms of change are at play today in the Arab world: a grassroots movement targeting oppressive rule in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Jordan; a latent electoral shift in Lebanon and an authorized, electoral initiative to partition Sudan.
For the past five days, an unprecedented uprising has been taking place on the streets of Egypt. Egyptians call for the departure of their last Pharaoh, President Hosni Mubarak. This North African country is the center of the Arab world, a close ally of the US and a frustrated mediator of Arab-Israeli peace.
Mubarak will have to step down as his determined people demand. So far, his army has been friendly to the demonstrators. As the media exposes the scandals of this regime, it is anyone’s guess how long he can retain his post. However, if this revolution is infiltrated by elements paid to loot and spread chaos, the army might intervene and delay the departure of an expired rule.
Washington is hoping for Mubarak staying power. Obama calls on Mubarak to put “meaning into words” by introducing “concrete reform”. The White House should have gone further and stated that the people want real regime change rather than cosmetics. Obama looked so professorial in his televised message to Mubarak. The US president would do well to give “meaning” to his Middle East foreign policy by offering “concrete” steps to a derailed Arab-Israeli peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu knows that Arabs will gain power as they reform. Israel now spins the argument that the only alternative to Arab secular autocrats is Islamic theocrats. Are we to assume from this strange logic that Arabs do not learn from the past?
Muslims ideologues are gradually learning that the Koran must not be used as a political handbook or an encyclopedia; that religion does not mix well with politics. The problems of Islamist politics are on display in Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. It is too early to tell for sure, but the spreading revolts appear to be essentially secular and non-ideological.
The course of revolutions is unpredictable; there is always a chance that political Islam will be dominant in some countries. There is no reason to assume that the less Islamic the regime, the better it is. Turkey, Indonesia and Malaysia are Islamic states that allow ample distance between political and religious authority. Each society will learn from its own experience how to integrate religion with governance.
Indeed, if the West does not cooperate with and support emerging reform movements, extreme theocrats may have a better chance of wrenching power from secular parties, especially when state infrastructure is weak, the middle class is thin and civic organization is timid. In any case, people are entitled to shape their own political reform.
Washington is not showing the same neutrality in dealing with Lebanon and Sudan as with Egypt. When the Lebanese government collapsed last week, Washington was eager to dictate policy preferences in the management of a local crisis. Contrary to the US agenda, a populist opposition has already assumed leadership in the forming of the new government. The new cabinet is expected to distance itself from a US- backed, UN-sponsored Special Tribunal for Lebanon. This Tribunal is about to issue an indictment implicating Hezbollah in the 2005 murder of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. The majority of the Lebanese consider the indictment of Hezbollah procedurally compromised and a threat to national stability. Some believe that Washington’s close attention to a six-year old assassination is politically motivated. Many consider Hezbollah’s militia a national defense force. A just solution to the Palestinian problem is a priority for Lebanon; the Lebanese shelter 400,000 Palestinians refugees.
If Egypt is about dethroning a tyrant, and Lebanon is about an ideological shift from the right to the center, Sudan is about the breakup of a country after a long process of ethnic polarization. The US has dominated Sudanese affairs for years through foreign aid.
A referendum has recently authorized the southern region of Sudan to secede from the North. For decades, a tyrannical theocratic regime has hijacked Islam by ruling irresponsibly. For 22 years, the mainly Christian and animist people of the South fought a bloody civil war against the forces of Khartoum. A peace treaty ended the civil war in 2005. The agreement gave the people of the South the right to determine their future. In early January, a referendum revealed an overwhelming desire of the people of the South to secede from the North. If the two sides of Sudan can learn to cooperate as separate entities, they could immensely improve the fate of their peoples. If they continue to work against each other, they will perpetuate agony.
As Arab systems evolve, lessons emerge.
Genuine foreign aid should focus on responding to deserving people rather than sustaining compliant regimes.
The ascendance of Hezbollah in Lebanon indicates that the smallest of the Arab countries can sow fear in Israel. The best way for Israel to deal with a political resistance which cannot be eliminated by force is by addressing its legitimate concerns.
Middle Eastern states with ethnic and religious divisions - such as Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen and Cyprus- point to a sobering phenomenon: prolonged unjust rule generates irreversible secession movements.
Political reforms will eventually empower the people of the Middle East. But reform will progress at varying rates and not without setbacks.
It is in Israel’s best interest, to embrace such inevitable reforms rather than opposing them. The Zionist state cannot count on perpetual Arab despair and disunity. In a new context of political reform, Israel will have to offer realistic terms for peace with Arabs.
A new order of global politics has just started.
* Ghassan Michel Rubeiz is an Arab American commentator. The writer is a former Middle East representative at the Geneva-based World Council of Churches.
CONVERSATION
Wine tester
They tested him.
They gave him a glass of wine . He tried it and said,
"It’s red wine, a Muscat, three years old, grown on a north slope, matured in steel containers."
"That’s correct", said the boss.
Another glass.
"It’s red wine, cabernet, eight years old, a southwestern slope, oak barrels."
"Correct."
The director was astonished.
He winked at his secretary to suggest something. She brought in a glass of urine. The alcoholic tried it.
"It’s a blonde, 26 years old, pregnant in the third month. And if you don’t give me the job, I’ll also name the father!"
CONVERSATION
Western military fleets are heading to Lebanon & Israel's army is on full alert/ Elias Bejjani
Hezbollah, the armed Iranian-Syrian terrorist proxy, is resorting to all sorts of force, terrorism, intimidation, threats, bribery, division, sectarianism, and instigation to install a new puppet government in Lebanon after toppling on January 13/2010 the Hariri national unity one in response to direct orders from its two Axis of Evil supporters, Syria and Iran. In a report that was published today in the Kuwaiti daily Alseyiasi, veteran analyst and journalist Hamid Gheriafi wrote that many Western and Arabic countries have been lately issuing urgent travel warnings cautioning their citizens who are residing in Lebanon to take the highest required measures to avoid being targeted by Syria's and Hezbollah's armed groups and advising them not to travel deep into Lebanon's southern and Bekaa Valley regions or to go to Beirut areas where there are Sunni Shiite tensions.
The report stated that the whole democratic and Free World and the majority of the Arab countries are extremely concerned that Tehran's and Damascus's allies could take full control of the Lebanese state and all of its institutions, including both the army and internal security forces. USA, European countries, England, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and many other countries have been conducting around the clock consultations on the highest level to abort this vicious Syrian- Iranian scheme. The Syrian-Iran full control of Lebanon will impose a dire threat to all the Arab countries, Israel, and Europe.
Mr. Gheriafi learned from reliable European Intelligence sources in Brussels that at least two well equipped Western military fleets were urgently ordered to move from the Arabian Gulf to positions close to both Syria and Lebanon in the Mediterranean Sea with strict instructions to fully monitor and watch the unfolding events in Lebanon, especially in case Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, succeeds in taking over the new Lebanese government.
The intelligence sources did not unveil the identity of the Western fleets, but confirmed that they comprise two nuclear aircraft carriers with 210 jet fighter planes on board, and more than 30 ships carrying about 5,800 marines armed with the latest technologies.
The same sources said that the Israeli air and navy forces have been on a high alert status since last Friday after Lebanon's Druze Leader, MP Walid Jumblat, decided to join Hezbollah and Syria with his parliamentary block, giving them the upper hand and a parliamentary majority that enables them to form a new pro-Syrian and -Iranian government, killing all chances for caretaker PM Saad Hariri to return as a PM.
A new Hezbollah-controlled government will cut all Lebanon�s legal and financial relations with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and force the country to fully join the Axis of Evil terrorist front comprised of Syria, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. The STL is expected to indict members from Hezbollah, Iran and Syria for the assassination of late Lebanese PM Raffic Hariri and dozens of high ranking Lebanese politicians, clergy, journalists and intellectuals.
Meanwhile, Israel's PM Netanyahu, his deputy and other high ranking officials expressed their very serious concerns in regard to the looming possibility that Lebanon will have a pro-Syrian and -Iranian government fully controlled by the terrorist Hezbollah and its allies.
The USA administration and both Houses are looking seriously into the dreadful hazards that could affect both the peace process and stability in the Middle East, in case Hezbollah succeeds in forming and fully controlling Lebanon's new government. The Obama administration will most probably halt all kinds of aid to Lebanon and even impose harsh sanctions.
In this same context, all the 18 countries with troops participating in the UNIFIL forces deployed in South Lebanon on the Lebanese-Israeli border are extremely concerned about their safety. These countries are definitely going to reevaluate their participation in UNIFIL, as well their aid to Lebanon once Hezbollah's government is in office.
In conclusion: The Free World and the Arabic countries have an obligation to help the Lebanese people by all available means, including military forces in a bid to stop Iran and Syria, through its armed terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, from taking over Lebanon and turning it into an arena for evil wars against all the democracies in the world. The confrontation with the Axis of Evil is inevitable and now it is the right time to act before it is too late and before a new Nazi dragon starts goose stepping in to devour all the Arab countries and Europe.
Click Here to read Alseyiasi, Hamid Gheriafi's Arabic repot /
CONVERSATION
JUST CHECKING IN
Just then the back door opened, A man came down the aisle, The minister frowned as he saw The man hadn't shaved in a while. His shirt was kinda shabby, And his coat was worn and frayed, The man knelt, he bowed his head, Then rose and walked away.
In the days that followed, Each noon time came this chap, Each time he knelt just for a moment, A lunch pail in his lap. Well, the minister's suspicions grew, With robbery a main fear, He decided to stop the man and ask him, 'What are you doing here?'
The old man said, he worked down the road. Lunch was half an hour Lunchtime was his prayer time, For finding strength and power.
'I stay only moments, see, Because the factory is so far away; As I kneel here talking to the Lord, This is kinda what I say:
'I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHERS FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY. SO, JESUS, THIS IS JIM CHECKING IN TODAY.'
The minister feeling foolish, Told Jim, that was fine. He told the man he was welcome To come and pray just anytime.
Time to go, Jim smiled, said 'Thanks.' He hurried to the door. The minister knelt at the altar, He'd never done it before. His cold heart melted, warmed with love, And met with Jesus there. As the tears flowed, in his heart, He repeated old Jim's prayer:
'I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHERS FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. I DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY. SO, JESUS, THIS IS ME CHECKING IN TODAY.'
Past noon one day, the minister noticed That old Jim hadn't come. As more days passed without Jim, He began to worry some.
At the factory, he asked about him, Learning he was ill. The hospital staff was worried, But he'd given them a thrill.
The week that Jim was with them, Brought changes in the ward. His smiles, a joy contagious. Changed people, were his reward.
The head nurse couldn't understand Why Jim was so glad, When no flowers, calls or cards came, Not a visitor he had.
The minister stayed by his bed, He voiced the nurse's concern: No friends came to show they cared. He had nowhere to turn.
Looking surprised, old Jim spoke Up and with a winsome smile; 'the nurse is wrong, she couldn't know, That he's in here all the while.
Everyday at noon He's here, A dear friend of mine, you see, He sits right down, takes my hand, Leans over and says to me:
'I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, JIM, HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP, AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN. ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY,
I THINK ABOUT YOU EACH DAY, AND SO JIM, THIS IS JESUS CHECKING IN TODAY.'
CONVERSATION
Palestinians, America and the U.N./ HANAN ASHRAWI
Palestinians are well within their rights to bring the issue of Israeli settlements and their illegality before the United Nations Security Council. Our decision to do so follows both Israel's refusal to cease all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, and America's failure to ensure Israel's compliance with international law and existing agreements. The United States should support such a move, not block it. It is universally recognized that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and that without a full cessation of all settlement activity, Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and the two-state solution are both doomed. In spite of the dilution of American public statements, the United States still recognizes settlements as illegal. Not only are they a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention; under the Rome Statute, they are considered a war crime.
With America unwilling to hold Israel accountable to international law and existing agreements, Israel has remained intransigent in the face of international efforts to revive genuine negotiations. A Security Council resolution would reaffirm today's international consensus in support of the two-state solution by recognizing the threat posed by illegal settlements.
This is not rocket science. Settlements are built on occupied Palestinian land. They also entail the exploitation of Palestine's natural resources, including water. Both belong to a future Palestinian state. Without them, no Palestinian state can be viable.
The true impact of Israeli settlements is measured not only by the way they undermine the two-state solution; it is also the enormous damage they inflict on countless Palestinian communities.
Settlements superimpose a colonial grid over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. They constitute an illegal exercise of Israeli extraterritoriality in Palestine. Built on the expropriation and theft of Palestinian land, they dominate the surrounding hilltops of the occupied West Bank, encircling and besieging Palestinian towns and villages below.
They stand at the heart of an ever expanding web of checkpoints, walls, roadblocks and settler-only bypass roads that marginalize Palestinian realities and render all normal life impossible. Palestinian farms, businesses and homes have all been destroyed to make way for settlement expansion, while Palestinian lives and livelihoods have been shattered in the process.
The rights and protections enshrined under international law apply as much to Palestinians as to anyone else. Indeed, at the very heart of the Palestinian struggle is a determination to win back these very rights and protections long denied us by Israel. This applies as much to the rights of Palestinian refugees living in exile for the last 60 years, as it does to the many Palestinians who have suffered for over four decades under the brutality of an Israeli military occupation.
Settlements are a fundamental part of this. Given that they continue to expand in flagrant violation of international law, it is perfectly reasonable for Palestinians to turn to the United Nations as a forum in which to pursue their legitimate rights.
The question is not whether or not Palestinians should approach the United Nations. We have every right to pursue all legal avenues available to us, whether in the absence of or parallel to negotiations, just as the African National Congress did in its struggle to overthrow apartheid in South Africa. Rather, the question is why the United States should oppose such a move, particularly given that its own attempts to revive Palestinian-Israeli negotiations have been thwarted time and again by Israel's refusal to stop building settlements.
Negotiations are not a substitute for international law. Rather, they should be guided by international law, which alone establishes the benchmarks for a just peace. Nor are settlements a bilateral issue whose illegality is up for discussion.
It is just such a message that the Obama administration is in danger of sending by opposing a Security Council resolution reaffirming the illegality of Israeli settlements. It sets up a false opposition between negotiations and international law, substituting one for the other. And it closes down what few avenues are open to Palestinians, in the absence of negotiations, to continue our national struggle through nonviolent means.
The U.N. charter explicitly references its "faith in fundamental human rights" and the need to uphold "conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law" be respected. What could be more applicable than the damage done by Israeli violations, in particular unilateral measures like settlement activity?
· Hanan Ashrawi is a former Palestinian peace negotiator and an elected member of both the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee and the Palestinian Legislative Council.
CONVERSATION
Stupied lawyers
-1-
ATTORNEY: Now doctor isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
-2-
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
-3-
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
-4-
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
-5-
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
-6-
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
-7-
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been al ive and practicing law.
ATTORNEY: Now doctor isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
-2-
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
-3-
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
-4-
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
-5-
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
-6-
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
-7-
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been al ive and practicing law.
CONVERSATION
Australian Coptics protest persecution
ACMA members meet former Prime Minister John Howard after the protest.
Australia's Coptic Christians are demanding the federal government use diplomacy to pressure Egypt to better protect members of their faith.
About 4,000 Coptics and some Muslim supporters marched on Wednesday in central Sydney, calling on Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd to address the issue, after a bomb blast killed 21 people during a New Year's Eve Coptic church service in Alexandria, Egypt.
The bombing sparked fears around the world, bringing a heavy police presence to Australian Coptic churches on January 6, when Coptics celebrated Christmas Eve.
Federal and state MPs from both sides of politics attended and spoke at the rally, which kicked off around 11.30am (AEDT) at Martin Place in Sydney's CBD.
The congregation then marched a short distance to the Sydney offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) to deliver a letter addressed to Mr Rudd.
An Australian Coptic Movement Association (ACMA) spokeswoman said top politicians have yet to enter the debate over the human rights of Egyptian Coptics.
"We understand that Mr Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard have not personally issued statements of condemnation," said the spokeswoman, who asked not to be named for safety reasons.
"We don't understand why they're silent and other leaders aren't."
The woman said the issue is not a battle between religions.
Egyptian Coptics deserve basic human rights, she said, and should be protected by their government against persecution.
"Too many Christians have died, too many girls have been raped, too many houses have burnt - we really can't tolerate it anymore," the spokeswoman said.
"At the end of the day, this isn't about religion.
"We know plenty of decent Muslims and a lot them were actually here at the rally today."
Father Suriel from St Antonious and St Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Guildford, in Sydney's west, said the Egyptian government is not doing enough.
"So we are asking the Australian government to voice the hurts and the sufferings of other human beings in our motherland Egypt," Father Suriel told AAP at the rally.
CONVERSATION
Syria, Iran & Hezbollah Occupy Lebanon/ Elias Bejjani
Edmund Burke: "Evil Prevails When Good Men Fail to Act"
What is currently going on in my beloved home country Lebanon is extremely pathetic, very bizarre, dreadful and explosive. While the prevailing enforced status quo is unprecedented. It is well known internationally as well as legally that when an occupying force withdraws from a country that it occupies the withdrawal must include all military, civil and paramilitary personnel, and all secret services bodies in a bid to allow the people of that country to run their own affairs independently.
This golden thumb rule was not implemented by the notorious Syrian Baathist occupation when the Syrian authorities were forced in 2005 to withdraw their occupying army from Lebanon after 28 years of barbaric, iron-fisted oppression. Syria left behind fully intact the notorious Hezbollah militia within its de facto mini-state that is much stronger and better equipped than the Lebanese army. It also left intact four Syrian military camps camouflaged under Palestinian armed factions and thirteen other armed Palestinian refugee camps that are all mini-states over which the Lebanese government has no authority or presence.
Since 2005, Syrian intelligence services scattered all over Lebanon have infiltrated all governmental institutions, directly and through their Lebanese and Palestinian armed militias. Hezbollah and other terrorists, mercenaries, and spies have assassinated numerous patriotic Lebanese figures including clergymen, parliamentary members, politicians, journalists, and intellectuals. At the same time Syria, with the help of its 'Axis of Evil' ally Iran, prevented Lebanese authorities from implementing the "Taef Accord" along with UN Resolutions 1559, 1701 and 1757. These resolutions called for the disarming the illegal Lebanese and Palestinian militias, entering and controlling the mini-states, safeguarding the country's borders with Syria, and an independent government free from foreign interference.
In response to direct orders from the two axis of evil countries Iran and Syria and against the wishes of the majority of the Lebanese people, on January 12/2011, Hezbollah toppled Lebanon's national coalition government. It is further threatening to topple by force Lebanon's democratic, secular, and multicultural government if it allows the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) designated by the UN General Security Council to continue its investigation of the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's Sunni Prime Minister Raffic Harriri and twenty-two others.
On January 17th 2011, the STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare submitted the tribunal's indictment to the Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen. It is strongly believed that top members from Hezbollah, Syria and Iran will be indicted. Fransen has up to 10 weeks to either accept the indictment and publicly announce it or send it back to Bellemare asking for more investigation in the crime.
In 2006, Hezbollah instigated a devastating war with neighboring Israel that killed more than 1,500 citizens and injured 4,000 others, displaced almost one third of the country's population, ruined thousands of buildings and houses, and destroyed most of the Lebanon's infrastructure with losses estimated at 20 billion dollars. The UN intervened to put an end to the war and the UN Security Council issued Resolution 1701 that called for the disarmament of Hezbollah and all other armed militias alongside Lebanese authorities to deploying their own armed forces all over the country.
In 2008, Hezbollah invaded the Sunni West Beirut suburbs and a part of the Druze Mount Lebanon killing and injuring hundreds after which it forced the "Doha Accord". This accord gave its leadership the upper hand in the government, legitimized its weaponry, as well as its terrorist mini-state. Meanwhile, Syria and Iran kept on supplying Hezbollah with all sorts of weaponry among which are more than 50,000 long, short and medium range rockets.
Since then, the Lebanese authorities have failed to implement any of the three above mentioned UN resolutions. Lebanon's governmental authorities have become a hostage to Hezbollah which has by force, bribery, and trafficking spread its armed control all over Lebanon and erected military bases on all Lebanon's strategic posts. As of now, the entire South Lebanon is under its full control with attacks on UNIFIL forces through by its militia occurring every so often.
Lebanon is a completely occupied country according to each and every legal criterion. Iran's Hezbollah proxy army in Lebanon has become a lethal threat not only to Lebanon and Israel, but also to peace and tranquility in all the Arabic countries, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and many other states. Sadly, Hezbollah's terrorist military grip on Lebanon's governmental institutions is escalating on a daily basis.
The UN has an obligation to enforce its two major Resolutions 1559 and 1701 and not to bury its head in the sand. Appeasing Hezbollah has only made its UNIFIL troops in south Lebanon mere hostages and under the mercy of both Iran and Syria. We call on the UN Security Council to vigorously implement UN Resolution 1701 lest Hezbollah topple the Lebanese government and replace it with an Islamic republic similar to the Iranian one.
In conclusion, the Lebanese people alone are by any means no longer able to disarm Hezbollah, dismantle its mini-state or rule their country independently as long as this Iranian-Syrian armed terrorist proxy has the upper hand. Needless to say that force and military deterrence are the only two languages that Hezbollah and its evil masters in both Iran and Syria will understand. A final military confrontation between the Free World and the 'Axis of Evil' that includes Iran, Syria and Hezbollah is inevitable. Based on the lessons of Hitler's aggression, the sooner this bloody confrontation occurs the better. Every passing day makes the price of blood and treasure to be paid more and more expensive.
CONVERSATION
A Joke/ Aids
Khan is studying in the west as he is calling his mom:
KHAN: Mom, I have AIDS.
Mother: Don't come back my son.
KHAN: Why Mom?
Mother: If you come back then your wife will be infected. From your wife to your brother, from your brother to our maid, from our maid to your dad, from your dad to my sister and from my sister to her husband, from him to me and from me to our driver, from our driver to your sister and if your sister got AIDS, then...the whole village will be infected!:
So in the name of god please save our village. Don't come back!..X_X
CONVERSATION
Terrorism: A Product of Rogue Regimes/ Elias Bejjani
On September 25th 2010, Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Council, headed by Egypt's Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb issued this statement, "Egypt is an Islamic State, according to the text of its Constitution, which represents the social contract between its people. From this stems the rights of citizenship, as taught to us by the Messenger of Allah, in his pact with the Christians of Najran. In this pact, he decided that Christians would enjoy the same rights and freedoms as the Muslims. However, these rights and freedoms would be conditional to their respect for the Islamic Identity and the rights of citizenship as set by the Constitution." The Christians of Najran, Medina, refused conversion to Islam in 631 A.D. and offered to Mohammad that they could keep their faith in exchange for their acceptance of Islamic dominance and their payment an annual tax (Jizya). He accepted this deal and the pact was sealed between them.On January the 9th of 2011, in his Sunday sermon, Maronite Catholic Patriarch, Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, strongly denounced the persecution of Christians, as well as all discrimination and acts of violence in the world linked to religion, particularly in Asia and Africa. He stressed that "the majority of the victims were members of religious minorities. These victims were not allowed to freely practice their faith nor celebrate their spiritual rituals and in such, had their basic human rights and freedoms violated". "Cardinal Sfeir proposed that defending and securing these rights of freedom of religion, could be achieved through the advocacy of all universal basic human rights and freedoms. He added that the protection of religious minorities was not a threat to the identity of the majority, but rather an opportunity for dialogue and the establishment of cultural richness and diversity".
Religious persecution and more specifically, Christian discrimination and intolerance, is most rampant in Muslim dominated countries of the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The Christian minorities of many of these countries have most recently been facing dire hardships, unprecedented discrimination and even death.
A world wide wave of condemnation, fear and angry protests was waged in the aftermath of the recent savage terrorist attacks that targeted peaceful Christian worshippers and their churches in Iraq, Egypt, Sudan and Nigeria. Sadly, the focus of this wave of global unrest was the crime and not the problem nor the triggers that fuelled these tragedies. The catalyst and sources of this religious terrorism is a deeply rooted, systemic discrimination and suspicion of all things non-Islamic and Western. Unfortunately the Muslim fanatic, rigid and fundamental regimes produce the fertile educational and cultural milieus of hatred, ignorance and transgression.
Both the governments of Iraq and Egypt, where the most recent and bloodiest attacks against Christians took place, have blatantly ignored all precipitating factors that led to these horrific attacks. These governments, in a very superficial and patronizing display of concern, they reacted strongly with a wink and a nod, only to appease global anger and outrage.
On the Coptic Orthodox Christian celebration of Christmas Day that fell on January 6th, Egyptian authorities, in an apparent display of power, concern and tolerance, deployed more than 70.000 police and security officers throughout the country to guard Churches, while President Mubarak's two sons attended a Christmas mass celebrated by the Coptic Pope Shenouda. In Iraq, a similar display of concern and strict security measures were enacted .
It is with no doubt, that these superficial and temporary displays of power and concern, would not provide a solution to the deeply embedded insecurities, suspicions and rogue elements that helped to fuel these criminal acts of murder nor would they help to foster a safe environment for the persecuted Christian communities.
The persecution of Christians and all other minorities in the Middle East is not a recent phenomena, but rather has been going on for almost the last 1400 years. The worst periods of discrimination and persecution that Christians suffered and endured were during the Ottoman and Mamluke rule that spanned a period of more than 700 years.
It is worth mentioning that in all Muslim dominated governments, their constitutions and judiciaries are based on the Islamic Sharia (law), in which Christians and Jews are treated as second class citizens (Dhimmis), and in such are deprived of their basic human rights. These �Dhimmitude� communities are inferior to their fellow Muslim citizens in all domains and walks of live. The most notorious countries in which the �Dhimmi� class is strictly enforced and abused are Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Iran and Turkey.
The two main retributions that Christians and other minorities endure in Muslim dominated countries are the deprivation of their basic rights and the forced indoctrination through a mandatory Islamic education based on a fundamentalist curriculum. These rigid religious beliefs are often state sponsored and officially fostered in all schools and universities. Discrimination, persecution and humiliation are integrated in the everyday life, while the governments of these countries through their institutions, legislatures, judiciaries, and educational facilities, encourage, foster and legitimize such mentality and practices.
The cure to these problems do not lie in temporary and superficial security measures, but rather through the complete abolishment of the �Dhimmitude� class, �infidel� and "blasphemy" designation. Muslim governments are required to deal with their Christian citizens as equal citizens and grant them all their legitimate rights and freedoms in all domains. The Western free world countries as well as the UN are required to play a pivotal role in helping, encouraging and even politically forcing all Muslim country regimes to abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Once these obstacles are addressed, then all terrorist organizations world-wide will be weakened, marginalized and alienated in their own societies. This collapse will be propagated in part due to the reality that these extremist organizations do not stand on their own in terms of identity; instead, they are proxies to regimes that provide them with financial means and an operational framework for their terrorist activities.
The Muslim regimes that have been breeding, recruiting, hosting, sponsoring, training, financing and using terrorist and fundamental organizations are Syria, Iran, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The most notorious are the two axis of evil countries, Iran and Syria. Saudi Arabia has been for years the main source for financing many fundamental terrorist groups among which is Ben Laden's Al-Qaida. For the last few years many fundamentalist groups have been fighting against the Saudi monarchy and threatening its grip on the country. While the Saudi regime is now fighting these terrorists, many Saudi rich men, businesses and institutions are still grossly financing many terrorist groups, especially Al Qaeda.
Fighting only the terrorist organizations is futile and a waste of time, men and resources, because the clandestine nature of the above listed regimes and specially the Iranian and Syrian ones would allow them to quickly and easily reform and restructure new organizations with completely new aliases who are ready to resume operations in full capacity.
One cannot rationally dissociate Syria and Iranian from terrorism all over the world. Both countries provide a safe haven for a myriad of terrorist organizations, (Hezbollah, Hamas and many others), direct their operations, and use Hezbollah's and Palestinians' ministates in Lebanon as their main field of recruiting, training and operations. Like the Mafia which uses money, crime, fear, intimidation, and violence as instruments of pressure to buy silence from otherwise good and honorable people, the Syrian and Iranian regimes use their proxy terrorist organizations (Hamas, Hezbollah and new versions of Al Qaeda) as instruments of pressure on their neighboring countries and as bargaining tool in their foreign policy strategies that has earned them a "no questions asked" attitude from the free world with regard to their bloody interference in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, West Bank, Egypt, Kuwait, Yemen, South America and many other countries. In 1983 Syrian and Iranian terrorist proxies were responsible for bloody attacks against the American embassy, Marine compound and French troops in Lebanon costing hundreds of Lebanese, French and American lives.
We strongly believe that the effective long-term solution to the spread of fundamentalism and terrorism is through containing the rogue regimes. At the same time through the spread of democracy and freedom, and abidance of all Muslim countries' regimes with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
An effective global war against terrorism can not by any means be successful if the countries that breed terrorism organizations are not handled and contained first. In this same context, the war against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Yemen will not be won unless the Pakistani, Yemeni and Iranian regimes are forced to totally cut their ties with terrorists and honour Humane Rights, freedom and democracy.. In the same token peace and stability in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, West Bank, Gaza, and Egypt will remain out of reach unless the Syrian and the Iranian regimes are international and regionally dealt with in a bid to stop all their terrorist tactics, games and ploys.
In conclusion, All the terrorist organizations all over the world including Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas are mere military tools and proxies that are found, financed, sponsored and fully controlled by rogue regimes. Accordingly the terrorists that attacked Christians and their Churches in both Iraq and Egypt are most probably Iranian and Syrian proxies. Therefore putting an end for such terrorist atrocities necessitate a solid, united and clear crystal world-wide approach towards both the Syrian and Iranian axis of evil regimes.
CONVERSATION
O'FARRELL CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON COPTS
NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell has condemned the recent attack on a Coptic church in Egypt and has expressed his concern about reports of threats against members of Australia's Coptic community."On behalf of the NSW Liberals & Nationals, I extend my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the innocent people killed in the New Years day attack against worshippers leaving a Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria, Egypt," Mr O'Farrell said.
"Our thoughts are also extended to the more than 100,000 Coptic Australians, who share the grief felt in Egypt," he said.
"This cowardly attack and reports of threats against Copts in Australia are a tragic reminder of the need to remain vigilant against the threat of terrorism.
"This is a time for the community to come together and pray for peace and an end to the unnecessary violence and bloodshed which has besieged the New Year."
CONVERSATION
Massacre of Egyptian Christians/ Elias Bejjani
There are no sufficient or adequate words or sentiments that can express our sorrow, grief and pain with regard to Saturday's barbaric and savage attack that targeted by a car full of explosives and a booby-trapped bomb a Christian Coptic church in the vicinity of the Egyptian city of Alexandria as about a thousand worshipers were leaving the church after taking part in the New Year�s mass prayers. Reports stated that 21 Christian worshipers were killed, while more than 80 others seriously injured.Egyptian President Mubarak publicly condemned the massacre and promised to prosecute and punish the criminals alleging that they were not Egyptians. Meanwhile, many countries all over the world, Church leaders, legal advocates and numerous international humanitarian organizations strongly deplored the brutal bloody premeditated attacks that constantly target and persecute Egyptian Christians. In the same context, two days ago 2 Christians were killed and 11 others injured in the Iraqi capital, Bagdad, when their neighborhoods were hit by an orchestrated series of terrorist explosions.
Apparently, rhetorical means of condemnation, denunciation and deploring are falling on deaf ears and numbed consciences in both Egypt and Iraq. We strongly believe that it is time for the UN and its General Council, Arab states, USA, Russia, Canada and all democratic and free countries to immediately step in and take all needed measures on all levels to actually and not just verbally protect Christians in both Egypt and Iraq, where sadly the ruling authorities and their security apparatuses bear full legal and humanitarian responsibility for the attacks. These authorities in both countries do not only abstain from carrying out their designated security duties, but also encourage encroachment on Christians and their churches, turn a blind eye on all terrorist attacks targeting Christians and help the attackers to escape judicial accountability. Ridiculously most of the Egyptian fanatical attackers who assaulted Christians and their churches were falsely alleged to be mentally sick.
Egypt, the biggest Arabic country, is one of the most notorious countries worldwide that systematically oppresses, discriminates and persecutes its Christian citizens. Egyptian authorities deprive their 12-15 million Christian population of most of their basic rights, while rigorously nurturing and promoting a culture of intolerance, hatred, and fanaticism that tags Christians as infidels and heretics. In the same realm, Egypt does not honor the Charter of Human Rights and instead governs its Christian population in accordance to the discriminative, racial and brutal Ottoman law known as the "Hamayouni Decree". It is worth mentioning that the Arab League has always been indifferent and silent in regard to all the assaults that target Egyptian Christians.
We strongly condemn the failure of the Egyptian authorities on all levels in fulfilling their legal, security and human obligations to protect Christians and hold them fully responsible for the heinous crime that on Saturday targeted faithful, peaceful and unarmed Christian worshipers in the city of Alexandria.
We urge our government of Canada to exert its utmost diplomatic efforts in a bid to help the persecuted Egyptian Christians, advocate for their just humanitarian cause at the UN, take all necessary measures to safeguard their rights, and ensure the freedom of their religious belief.
From the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC), we extend our warmest heartfelt condolences to the families, relatives and friends of the victims, and wish a fast and complete recovery for all the wounded and injured.
Our conciliation for the ongoing Egyptian Christian ordeal is in the Gospel of Saint Matthew 5/9-12: �Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.� 5:10 �Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness� sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 5:11 �Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.� 5:12 �Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.�
Background
The Hamayouni Decree (Wikipedia, encyclopedia).
The Hamayoni Decree, also "Hamayonic", or "Hamayouni" (Arabic: الخط الهمايونى), is a clause in Egyptian law, dating back to Ottoman rule (February 1856) that regulates church construction and maintenance. It is currently a cause of much controversy due to the conditions that need to be fulfilled in order for the permit to be granted. These same restrictions do not apply to mosques. The law requires that each permit must be issued by the Egyptian President. The requirements are complex, and frequently arbitrary, for building and repairing churches or church-owned buildings. These culminate in the requirement that the state president must personally approve all building applications, and the provincial governors must approve all applications for repairs, even for something as small as repairing a toilet or a broken window.
CONVERSATION
Massacre of innocent Christians in Alexandria - Egypt
Dear Mr Kevin Rudd,
Australian Foreign Minister
I hope you enjoyed your visit to Egypt two weeks ago.
As an Australian Copt, I am publicly asking you, if you raised the concern of Australian Copts about the continued massacre of innocent Christians in the Islamic Country of Egypt?
Mr Rudd, We have send your office 1000's of emails and letters and "not one response".
As foreign Minister do you represent all Australian Citizens, or do you ignore certain sectors because you feel they are not in a position to affect election outcomes?.
Does our Prime Minister Julia Gillard care about the massacre of our brethren in Egypt?
Will this be raised in parliament?
Will you make immediate representation with your respective Egyptian counterpart to voice our total and utter revolution of the continued persecution of the descendants of the Pharaohs and the worlds oldest Christians the "COPTS".?
We are the indigenous natives of Egypt and totally object to the vulgar indignation with which we are treated.
As Australians we demand that Australia address the issue,
and voice our concerns.
Below is a brief report on the disgraceful, cowardly, barbaric, bastardly attack by radical islamists against our church in Egypt.
You would no doubt agree it is a despicable way to start a new year and decade.
Only Half an hour, into the new year, the adherents of the religion of peace have exploded a car bomb as church goers were leaving after midnight mass concluded.
Differing reports says 5-10 people have been killed in an explosion that went off at a Coptic Christian church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria early Saturday.
The blast went off about a half-hour after midnight early Saturday as worshippers were emerging from a New Year's Mass at the Saints Church in Alexandria.
Police say the blast came from a car parked outside the church, but police said they were still investigating whether the car had been rigged with explosives or if a bomb had been placed under it.
Police said there were wounded, but did not have an immediate number. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. Witnesses reported seeing the bodies of several dead, but the numbers were not immediately confirmed.
After the explosion, some Christians from the church clashed with police in anger over the blast, a police official said. The Christians hurled stones at police and a nearby mosque, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," the witnesses said.
The attack comes at a time of heightened sectarian tensions in the region, when al-Qaida-linked militants have carried out a campaign of attacks against Christians in Iraq, killing 68 in a church siege in October and two more Christians in attacks in Baghdad on Thursday.
The attacks in Iraq have an unusual connection to Egypt. Al-Qaida in Iraq says it is carrying out the campaign of anti-Christian attacks.
Despite the assurances by Mubarak that security forces would protect the churches, Islamic Militants had no trouble driving the vehicle to the desired location and waiting for church goers to exit before detonating to assure maximum deaths.
With 1 week before Copts celebrate Christmas Mass on 7 January, the year has been commenced by the shedding of christian blood and resulting in coptic Martyrs at the hands of radical islamists.
Christians are believed to make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of nearly 80 million people, and the country has seen increasing sectarian tensions. In January 2009, seven Christians were killed in a drive-by shooting on a church in southern Egypt during celebrations for the Orthodox Coptic Christmas, but bombings against churches have been rare in recent years.
Assad El-Epty
CONVERSATION
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