Monday, 3 February 2020

Europe Cowers in Front of Iran and Hezbollah

In this mailing:
  • Soeren Kern: Europe Cowers in Front of Iran and Hezbollah
  • Lawrence A. Franklin: Beware of Putin's Push for Primacy in Africa

Europe Cowers in Front of Iran and Hezbollah

by Soeren Kern  •  February 3, 2020 at 5:00 am
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  • "Hezbollah itself has publicly denied a distinction between its military and political wings. The group in its entirety is assessed to be concerned in terrorism..." — The British Treasury, January 17, 2020.
  • Britain joins the Netherlands, Canada, the United States, Israel, the 22-member Arab League, the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council as well as Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay in making no distinction between Hezbollah's military and civilian wings. In all, more than 30 countries have banned the group in its entirety.
  • In Germany, the EU's largest member state, a foreign ministry official, Niels Annen, said that a complete ban of Hezbollah would be counterproductive because "we focus on dialogue." His comment has been understood to mean that the German government does not want to burn bridges with Hezbollah's main patron, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world's leading sponsor of terrorism.
  • In other EU member states, government officials appear worried that a total ban of Hezbollah could jeopardize the safety of European troops deployed to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL. EU member states contribute more than 3,650 troops to UNIFIL — mostly from France, Italy and Spain.
  • "Hezbollah is a single large organization, we have no wings that are separate from one another. What's being said in Brussels doesn't exist for us." — Ibrahim Mussawi, Hezbollah spokesman, interview in Der Spiegel, July 22, 2013.
According to Hezbollah's deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem (left), the group is structurally unified: "We don't have a military wing and a political one... Every element of Hezbollah, from commanders to members as well as our various capabilities, is in the service of the resistance, and we have nothing but the resistance as a priority." (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images)
The British finance ministry has added the entirety of the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah — Arabic for "The Party of Allah" — to its sanctions list and has ordered a freeze on any assets it may have in the United Kingdom.
The move, aimed at cracking down on Hezbollah's fundraising activities in Britain, adds increased enforcement teeth to the British government's February 2019 decision no longer to distinguish between Hezbollah's military and political wings and to classify the entire organization as a terrorist group.
With the exception of the Netherlands, which outlawed all of Hezbollah in 2004, the UK now has the most comprehensive set of sanctions against the terrorist group in Europe. Being a member of, or providing support for, Hezbollah is a crime in Britain punishable by up to ten years in prison.

Beware of Putin's Push for Primacy in Africa

by Lawrence A. Franklin  •  February 3, 2020 at 4:00 am
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  • After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow largely withdrew from the African continent, until Putin rekindled the flame about two years ago, in an attempt to restore Russia's "glory days" and fill a vacuum wherever one is created by the West.
  • Between Russia's expansionism in the region, and China's as well, the United States would do well to remain as vigilant as ever.
While the United States and France have been helping the fragile governments of Africa's Sahel region stave off Islamist terrorist attacks and takeovers, Russia has been busy trying to push NATO out of the area and augment its own influence there. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin and African heads of state at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, on October 24, 2019. (Image source: kremlin.ru)
While the United States and France have been helping the fragile governments of Africa's Sahel region stave off Islamist terrorist attacks and takeovers, Russia has been busy trying to push NATO out of the area and augment its own influence there.
Moscow's strategy rests on three pillars. The first is the cultivation of relationships with African leaders, particularly those attempting to remain in power in spite of constitutional limitations — such as, for instance, Sudan's former dictator, Omar al-Bashir, who was recently ousted by oppositionists. The Kremlin dispatched several hundred paramilitary advisers in late 2018 to train the Sudanese military how to suppress protests.
Ultimately, Moscow's mission to boost al-Bashir failed; he was overthrown in April 2019, a few months later.

A Global Catastrophe: “260 Million Christians Experience High Levels of Persecution” by Raymond Ibrahim

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A Global Catastrophe: “260 Million Christians Experience High Levels of Persecution”

by Raymond Ibrahim
Gatestone Institute The global persecution of Christians has reached unprecedented levels: “260 million Christians experience high levels of persecution” around the world, notes the recently published World Watch List 2020, an annual report that ranks the top 50 countries where Christians are most persecuted for their faith. Additionally, “2,983 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons.  […]

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Beware Of The End Times Deception Of ‘The Warrior’s Dance’ Written By ‘Seer’ Ana Werner Who Says She Travels Back And Forth Between Heaven And Earth

New post on Now The End Begins

Beware Of The End Times Deception Of ‘The Warrior’s Dance’ Written By ‘Seer’ Ana Werner Who Says She Travels Back And Forth Between Heaven And Earth

by Geoffrey Grider

Beware Of The End Times Deception Of 'The Warrior Dance' Written By 'Seer' Ana Werner Who Says She Travels Back And Forth Between Heaven And Earth

We are living in the end times, a time that Paul warned would be full of spiritual deception, do not believe the false teaching of seer Ana Werner with 'The Warrior's Dance' deception

Facebook is blowing up today with gushing reports of a woman named Ana Werner, who calls herself a seer, and who has written a book called 'The Warrior's Dance'. Ana was recently featured on 'Sid Roth's It's Supernatural', and that should be your first clue to the inauthentic nature of her claims of traveling back and forth between Heaven and Earth. Sid Roth has a long and checkered history of presenting "spiritual things" that range from the mildly insane to outright end times deception, and this continues with Ana Werner and 'The Warrior's Dance' nonsense. Remember that book that sold millions of copies called "The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven"? That book was a lie, and the authors confessed and repented of their evil end times deception. Anyone who claims a return trip from Heaven is also not telling you the truth.
"(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)" 1 Samuel 9:9 (KJB)
So who exactly is Ana Werner? She describes herself here:
"Ana moves in the prophetic and healing gifts. She is a Seer and teaches on seeing in the Supernatural with Jesus in churches and arenas around the world. Ana is an inspiring author and speaker. Her transparency as she shares on the realities and experiences she has in heaven, always bring Holy Spirit and the power of God into the room when she speaks. Healing, signs and wonders follow her ministry." READ MORE
Ana says that she is a seer, taken from the Old Testament, and that she has the power and ability to see into the 'invisible world', and she wants to teach you how to do the same thing. Well, don't, because Ana is a false teacher and she is teaching lies. The word 'seer' appears only in the Old Testament, and in the context that it appears in, almost always refers to an anointed prophet of God. So when Ana Werner calls herself an Old Testament seer, she is claiming status equal to that of Amos and others. To which I say, "poppycock!", and so should you.
false-gospel-of-pentecostal-charismatic-prosperity-televangelists-nteb
VISIT THE NTEB CULTS AND FALSE TEACHERS ARCHIVE TO WHICH WE JUST ADDED ANA WERNER

John And Paul Members Of An Exclusive Club

"I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (KJB)
People who like to make false claims will often times try and make a doctrine out of going to Heaven and coming back. They will say "John did it, Paul did, I can do it, too!" No, you can't, and there is nothing in the Bible which leads you to believe you could. Paul was taken to the Third Heaven, yes, but Paul was the leader of the New Testament Church, and wrote 14 books of the New Testament. Not only that, God told Paul to keep his mouth shut about what he saw, not to utter a word about it.
"After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne." Revelation 4:1,2 (KJB)
John was the last living apostle, and God used him to write the gospel of John, 1,2 and 3 John, and the book of Revelation. Jesus needed to show John the future so John could then show it to us. But outside of Paul and John, there are no records of anyone going to Heaven and coming back, much less having the ability to do it repeatedly as Ana so falsely claims.
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Timothy 4:3,4 (KJB)
I put a video of her "testimony" of her travels to Heaven here below, if you are saved, you will see through this junk in a moment. If you're not saved or seriously backslidden, you will be immediately attracted to it. This is nothing more than end times deception, Laodicean claptrap designed to sell you a book! Don't buy it, on any level.

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Sunday, 2 February 2020

THE ISLAMIC ANTICHRIST MAHDI IS ALMOST HERE! On The Day That Qassem Soleimani Was Killed Ayatollah Khamenei Prayed To Imam Mahdi, The Islamic Antichrist, Who They Believe Is Almost Here

New post on Now The End Begins

On The Day That Qassem Soleimani Was Killed Ayatollah Khamenei Prayed To Imam Mahdi, The Islamic Antichrist, Who They Believe Is Almost Here

by Geoffrey Grider

The fall of Qassem Soleimani and the Mahdi Doctrine

Why did Ayatollah Khamenei congratulate Imam Mahdi on the day of Soleimani’s death? Because the real Prince of Persia is undeterred. He is still coming, and Iran will do anything to pave his way.

If you're a Bible believer, this story today from the Jerusalem Post is a fascinating one, absolutely saturated with prophetic meaning of what is soon to come in the days after the Church is removed in the Pretribulation Rapture. While we as born again believers in Jesus Christ look for our Blessed Hope of being caught up in the clouds as our apostle Paul teaches us, Iran is also waiting for their savior as well, someone known to Muslims as Imam Mahdi. He is known to you and I as Antichrist.
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 (KJB)
The Iranian Revolution that took place in 1979 was designed to prepare Iran and the Middle East for the appearance of Imam Mahdi, the Islamic Antichrist. Why is Iran in 2020 a nation in a constant state of war, upheaval and chaos? Because they are not looking to be a law-abiding member of the United Nations, they are waiting for Imam Mahdi to come and lead the world into an Islamic caliphate. Iran leaders live in constant anticipation the arrival of the Mahdi just as you and I live in constant anticipation of meeting Jesus in the clouds. And guess what? We are both about to receive the desires of our hearts.
Now you know why Pope Francis signed a peace covenant with Islam last year, why they are building the Chrislam One World Religion headquarters in Abu Dhabi, he is preparing the Catholic Church to receive not Jesus Christ, but Imam Mahdi. All the pieces fit perfectly together as prophecy continues to unfold in glorious, end times harmony. Please enjoy this timely and fascinating article from the Jerusalem Post. The article is also highly ironic because when Imam Mahdi does appear, the Jews for the first three and a half years of the time of Jacob's trouble will think he is their Messiah and follow him. Pray for the Jewish people.
Are you ready for what comes next?

The fall of Qassem Soleimani and the Mahdi Doctrine

FROM THE JERUSALEM POST: When he left Damascus for Baghdad late Thursday evening January 2, Qassem Soleimani was flying high. As the military leader, chief strategist and charismatic face of what he knew to be the world’s emerging and greatest empire, he had it all: prestige, power, presence.
Not only did he command that rising empire’s independent military force, he was nothing less than the voice of Allah to leaders in nations soon to be absorbed: Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon; Yemen and the Sinai. Although no one ever said so in quite these terms, he was, in fact, a rising prince of Persia. And the arms at his disposal! In addition to an immeasurable arsenal of conventional weapons, there was a growing repository of guided missiles; a world-class brigade of ruthless cyber geeks; even submarines; and soon, very soon, nuclear warheads.
From the north and the south of the world’s most despicable usurper, if not so much to its east and to its west, Soleimani was slowly squeezing the Zionist entity, needling its psyche (and military focus) by jihadists within its pretentious boundaries, waiting for the perfect moment – when it was distracted – to strike at its heart from the north with a massive arsenal of at least 100,000 rockets. When the time came, rockets without sophisticated technology would draw the defensive shield of the Zionists’ interceptors. That shield would stop a lot of them, but not all. Not all.
Then, at just the right time, hi-tech guided missiles would be launched, programmed to hit key military sites and, best of all, high-density population centers. Maybe, just maybe, inshallah, one of those missiles would carry a nuclear warhead. As Zionists died in a mushroom cloud of agony, all hell would break out throughout the region, even the world. It would be a tragic upheaval but a necessary evil because then, as prophesied, the long awaited savior of the world would emerge from centuries of withdrawal. The Imam Mahdi would return, establishing a worldwide caliphate of perfect peace; Islamic peace, of course.
The United Arab Emirates will build a new synagogue as part of an Chrislam interfaith compound that will also house a mosque and church and is reportedly set to open in 2022.
CLICK TO SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN POPE FRANCIS, CHRISLAM AND IMAM MAHDI THE COMING ISLAMIC ANTICHRIST
On the evening of the second day of what the West calls its New Year, Soleimani was fresh from meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, with one of his nation’s most important vassals, Hassan Nasrallah, the uncontested head of the pretentious “party of Allah,” Hezbollah. In that encounter, duly photographed, Soleimani had accepted, once again, the “General Secretary’s” obsequious hospitality. It was likely gratifying to the Islamic Republic’s major general of Tehran’s notably redundant Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC.
The flight from Damascus was only one hour and five minutes, but it had been delayed. The Middle East Eye reports that his flight landed at 12:32 a.m. Baghdad time. Anticipating a comfortable weekend inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, Soleimani was met by the head of the Iraqi paramilitary force, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, said to be “a longstanding ally and a close friend.”
Just over an hour later, less than two hours into the third day of January, Soleimani, Muhandis and their entourage left Baghdad International Airport in two vehicles, a Hyundai Starex minivan and a Toyota Avalon four-door sedan. As they reached the airport’s outer access road, both vehicles were almost evaporated by missiles fired by an American Reaper drone, a large remote controlled aircraft regarded by the US military as a “hunter killer.” Death was instantaneous for all inside both cars. Remains were so badly shredded, Soleimani’s death was confirmed by a still intact hand bearing his still intact silver ring embedded with a large oval carnelian stone.
To Western eyes, events in Iran in the aftermath of Soleimani’s execution tend to look like a low-budget circus with all its performances gone bad.
“Let’s put all of this together,” opines YouTube commentator David Wood. “On January 3, Major-General Soleimani was killed in a drone strike. On January 7, 56 Iranians were killed and more than 200 more were injured in a stampede at Soleimani’s funeral. On January 8, Iranian leaders responded to the killing of Soleimani with a missile attack on two Iraqi bases where US soldiers were housed, but... no one was killed. Also on January 8, the Iranian military shot down a Ukranian passenger plane as it took off from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing 176 people. On January 11, after three days of denying it had shot down the plane ... Iran admitted it had shot down the passenger plane.
“So, in response to the US government killing one man, Iranians killed, by a stampede and surface-to-air missile attack, 138 Iranians and 94 others – none of them Americans. I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to think that Iranians might not be the best at war. [Mimicking Iranian leaders,] ‘Ah! They [the US] killed a general. Let’s start trampling each other to death in the streets and shooting down random planes.’
“I’m making fun of them,” says Wood, “because if the Iranian establishment is this incompetent, there’s hope for the protesters who want to overthrow the establishment. The days of the ayatollahs may be numbered.”
Iranian leaders as toothless buffoons is a gratifying narrative, but it is also wrong. If anything, the Islamic Republic is more dangerous than ever. As evidenced by Soleimani’s accomplishments in building a regional network of proxy terrorists, by the nation’s weapons-grade nuclear fuel technology, by hi-tech guided missile systems and a world-class cyber warfare unit, Iran retains all of these things, losing none of them with Soleimani’s death.
Wounded by Soleimani’s execution and US President Donald Trump’s economic sanctions, the threat Iran poses to the Middle East and the world is not lessened, it is magnified. Indeed, notes Israeli journalist and geopolitical analyst Jonathan Spyer, it “can be expected to do all in their power to preserve the regime by all possible means.”

Iran Is Waiting For Imam Mahdi, The Islamic Antichrist

Why? Three main reasons: the Mahdi and necessary upheaval; the Mahdi and Iran as the facilitator for his reappearance; the Mahdi and Tehran’s visceral hatred of Israel. On the day Soleimani was killed, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted, “We congratulate Imam Mahdi [aj] and Soleimani’s pure soul and condole the Iranian nation on this great martyrdom.”
Who is Imam Mahdi and why was Khamenei congratulating him on the day of Soleimani’s death?
In short, he is Islam’s messiah, the 12th of 12 Imams who are successors to Mohammed. Said to have been born in 879 CE, the Imam Mahdi is believed by Shi’a Muslims to still be alive, but hidden from mankind in “occultation” until a time of such upheaval on the earth that only his reappearance will rescue mankind and, in fact, usher in an age of global peace; Islamic peace, that is; a kind of peace in which all mankind is living in submission to the Allah of the Koran.
Crazy to Western ears, this messianic creed is the raison d’être for the Islamic Republic of Iran according to its founders and leaders. It is also the basis of Tehran’s foreign and military policies; and it is impossible to overemphasize the Iran regime’s visceral commitment to it. The Imam Mahdi is invoked in every public gathering, both civil and military; he is the singular inspiration for every policy, every tactic, every mission; indeed, he is nothing less than the regime’s reason for its existence and, as such, its singular and unwavering motivation for the future.
This reality does not bode well for those who see recent stumbles as indicative of an imminent fall of the mullahs in Tehran.
Khamenei’s official website is full of teachings about Imam Mahdi, including one that states the Supreme Leader’s conviction that his reappearance is very near. “Reappearance of Imam Mahdi [aj] is near, because minds are ready,” Khamenei writes. The “aj” in parenthesis is shorthand for, “May Allah hasten his appearance.”
“The mind of humankind is ready to understand, to learn, and to know, undoubtedly, that a lofty human will come to save them from the burden of oppression and tyranny,” Khamenei explains. “The Iranian nation, enjoys a great privilege today: the atmosphere of the country is an atmosphere of Imam Mahdi [aj],” he continues, adding that “many of our great scholars have personally met with this beloved Imam of hearts of the admirers during his occultation; many have made a pledge to him in person; many have heard from him some heartwarming words; many have been caressed by him and many others have received his kindness, care, and love.”

How is this unwrapped in terms of Iran’s foreign and military policies today?

Global upheaval is a prerequisite for the Mahdi’s reappearance. This means that inasmuch as Iran stirs up a global hornet’s nest, it advances the Mahdi’s return, a return that is imminent. The regime’s primary agenda is to strategically provoke the world to chaos; this is how it wins. Chaos brings the Mahdi who brings global peace. Call it “The Mahdi Doctrine.”
The Iranian regime believes it has created an “atmosphere” that embodies the spirit of the Mahdi. Its religious, military and civil leaders have had personal encounters with him. In essence, then, today’s Iran is the womb from which the Mahdi will be reborn. Accordingly, the regime will go to any lengths to preserve itself. Accordingly, we should expect internal rebellion to be ruthlessly squashed. Protesters, especially organizers, will disappear. All external and internal opposition to the regime will be demonized.
Israel must be destroyed. Tehran’s unrelenting objective is resurrection of the ancient Persian empire in the form of an Islamic caliphate. The primary impediment to that objective is Israel, the “Zionist Entity,” the very embodiment of evil in the world today. Notably, Khamenei’s Twitter feed is full of vitriol about Israel.
“The Zionist regime is the epitome of evil,” he tweeted on Valentine’s Day in 2016. It is a “racist, usurping, lying, vicious, apartheid regime,” he added on February 5, 2019.
What then must be done? “Once people in the West realize their problems stem from Zionist domination over governments, great social movements will give birth to a new world,” he explained on 2 March 2015. Accordingly, the “barbaric, wolflike and infanticidal regime of Israel which spares no crime but to be annihilated.”
Translation: When the world finishes the job that Hitler started, the Mahdi will come, bringing heaven on earth; Islamic heaven, that is. Wounded by economic sanctions, embarrassed by internal protesters, Iran is more dangerous today than ever.
Why did Khamenei congratulate Imam Mahdi on the day of Soleimani’s death? Because the real Prince of Persia is undeterred. He is still coming, and Iran will do anything to pave his way. READ MORE

Arab League Holds Emergency Vote Today Rejected Trump Peace Plan As Palestinian Leader Abbas Cuts All Ties With United States And Israel

New post on Now The End Begins

Arab League Holds Emergency Vote Today Rejected Trump Peace Plan As Palestinian Leader Abbas Cuts All Ties With United States And Israel

by Geoffrey Grider

Abbas Says Palestinians Cutting All Ties With Israel, US rejects Trump Peace plan

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he was cutting all ties, including security coordination, with both Israel and the US on Saturday, in a lengthy speech delivered at an Arab League meeting in Egypt’s capital denouncing the new White House plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For ten years now we have been telling you that the main conflict between Israel and the Palestinians centers almost exclusively around who has the right to control Jerusalem. This is because God in the Bible says Jerusalem is where He has placed His name, and Satan has declared that he will take what God has. This has been the endless struggle all the way since Job 1. Here in 2020, we find this to be the exact reason why Abbas and the Palestinians are rejecting Trump's peace plan. That little glimmer of light of Arabs siding with Trump peace plan evaporated quickly.
"And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there." 1 Kings 11:36 (KJB)
Listen to the words that came out of the mouth of Palestinian president Abbas just a few hours ago:
"I won't accept this solution, simply by saying that Jerusalem will not be part of Israel! I will not accept it in any way, I won't have it written in my history, or my country's history, that I have sold Jerusalem".
See the spiritual delusion they are operating under? The very idea that Jerusalem doesn't belong to Israel when the Bible mentions Jerusalem 811 times and it is nearly always in the context of its connection to Israel. It has always been about Jerusalem, and it will always be about Jerusalem, right up to the very moment we return with Jesus on horseback at the Second Coming. Abbas stands on nothing but air and cotton candy dreams when he says he won't "surrender Jerusalem", they have never had Jerusalem! But Abbas is content to be the Devil's advocate and continue to spout lies. Maybe Abbas should read our earlier article on Imam Mahdi.

Abbas Says Palestinians Cutting All Ties With Israel, US

“We’ve informed the Israeli side…that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States, including security ties,” Abbas declared. The PA leader said he’d stated as much in letters sent to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and CIA Director Gina Haspel. The PA currently cooperates with Israeli security services and US intelligence agencies against terrorism.
Abbas has threatened to cut security ties in the past on several occasions though he has not followed through with action on the ground.
The Arab League in a statement rejected the Trump proposal, calling it “unfair” to Palestinians. The pan-Arab bloc said in a statement that the plan “does not meet the minimum rights and aspirations of Palestinian people.”
Arab leaders also vowed “not to … cooperate with the US administration to implement this plan.”
The US plan would potentially grant the Palestinians a state with restricted sovereignty in Gaza and in parts of the West Bank, while allowing Israel to annex all its settlements and keep nearly all of East Jerusalem.
The summit of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo was requested by the Palestinians, who responded angrily to the American proposal. Abbas said that he told Israel and the US that “there will be no relations with them, including the security ties” following the deal that Palestinians say heavily favors Israel.
Israel will have to “bear responsibility as an occupying power,” Abbas said.
He said US President Donald Trump’s peace plan was in “violation of the (autonomy) accords” launched in Oslo in 1993 by Israel and the Palestinians. The plan, he said, left Palestinians with a “Swiss cheese” state.
There was no immediate comment from US or Israeli officials. READ MORE

Abbas Threatens to ‘Cut Ties’ with Israel And The USA.

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A Global Catastrophe: "260 Million Christians Experience High Levels of Persecution"

In this mailing:
  • Raymond Ibrahim: A Global Catastrophe: "260 Million Christians Experience High Levels of Persecution"
  • Amir Taheri: Tehran's Chinese Dream Can't Replace its Nightmare

A Global Catastrophe: "260 Million Christians Experience High Levels of Persecution"

by Raymond Ibrahim  •  February 2, 2020 at 5:00 am
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  • Dictatorial paranoia continues to make North Korea (#1) the worst nation. "If North Korean Christians are discovered, they are deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot." — World Watch List 2020, Open Doors.
  • Otherwise, as has been the case in all statistics and reports on the global persecution of Christians, not only does "Islamic oppression" remain the chief "source of persecution" faced by Christians in seven of the absolute ten worst nations, but 38 of the 50 nations composing the list are either Muslim majority or have a sizeable Muslim population.
  • The targeting of Christians around the world has become more widespread than ever. Part of this is because "persecution against Christians has taken a technological turn." ....in India (#10) — where "Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences" — "the government plans to introduce a national facial recognition system. Similarly, China (#23)...." — World Watch List 2020, Open Doors.
  • Perhaps the most disturbing trend is that the number of persecuted Christians continues to grow year after year....
  • Will this trend ever stop and reverse, or will it continue to get worse — and possibly even spill into those nations that, for now, enjoy religious freedom and equality?
Dictatorial paranoia continues to make North Korea the worst nation in the world for Christians, according to the Open Doors World Watch List 2020. "If North Korean Christians are discovered, they are deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot." Pictured: Soldiers in Pyongyang, North Korea on December 16, 2019. (Photo by Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images)
The global persecution of Christians has reached unprecedented levels: "260 million Christians experience high levels of persecution" around the world, notes the recently published Open Doors World Watch List 2020, an annual report that ranks the top 50 countries where Christians are most persecuted for their faith.
Additionally, "2,983 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons. On average, that's 8 Christians killed every day for their faith": "9,488 churches or Christian buildings were attacked," and "3,711 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned." (Note: All quotes in this article are from the World Watch List 2020 report.)
Dictatorial paranoia continues to make North Korea (#1) the worst nation. "If North Korean Christians are discovered, they are deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot."

Tehran's Chinese Dream Can't Replace its Nightmare

by Amir Taheri  •  February 2, 2020 at 4:00 am
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  • The Chinese found out that producing and exporting goods that people wanted across the globe was easier and more profitable than trying to export a revolution that no one, perhaps apart from a few students in London and Paris, thirsted for.
  • The Shah had promised that he would turn Iran into "a second Japan". Rafsanjani promised a "second China."
  • Some of Rafsanjani's close associates now tell me that he was "a bit of a coward" and lost his opportunity to do a Deng Xiaoping by being sucked into corrupt business deals. According to them, Rafsanjani didn't realize that one starts making money for himself, his family and his entourage after one has done a Deng Xiaoping, and not before.
  • Today, the Tehran "deciders" constitute a small, increasingly isolated minority caught in an imagined past and fearful of the future. Worse still, many "deciders" have already put part of their money abroad, having sent their children to Europe and America. Going through a who-is-who of these "deciders" one is amazed by how many are behaving as carpetbaggers, treating Iran as a land to plunder, sending the proceeds to the West. They cannot produce an Iranian "Deng" because they don't want to create a productive economy; all they are interested in is to get the money and run.
The idea of imitating the Chinese model isn't new in Iran. Pictured: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 23, 2016 in Tehran. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Could General Qassem Soleimani's dramatic demise provide the shock therapy to persuade those who wield real power in Tehran to admit the failure of a strategy that has led Iran into an impasse? This was the question discussed in a zoom conference with a number of academics from one of Iran's leading universities.
The fact itself that the issue could be debated must be regarded as significant. It indicates the readiness of more and more Iranians to defy the rules of silence imposed by the regime and raise taboo issues more or less openly.
In the course of the discussion one participant drew a parallel between Soleimani's death and that of Marshal Lin Biao, the Chinese Communist defense minister whose demise in an air crash in 1971 opened the way for a radical change of course by Maoist China.