Watchman Newsletter

'GOOD NEGOTIATIONS': Saudi crown prince says 'every day' is a day closer to peace with Israel

Fox News Bret Baier Podcast (Link) - Bret Baier (September 22, 2023)

This is very interesting information in light of my recent study I began again from scratch on understanding Daniel 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, Revelation 12, 13, 17, and 18 in relation to each other and how that shows the history of kingdoms in relation to Israel as well as paints a picture of the political climate before and into the kingdom of the antichrist.

• 3:46 - On Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel, when asked to characterize it if they were close, he said “every day we get closer. It seems for the first time it’s a real one, serious, we’re going to see how it goes.”
• 9:32 - On Saudi Arabia’s relationship to Iran
• 12:17 - On Saudi Arabia’s relationship to China and BRICS
• 14:52 - Russia and Ukraine
• 17:11 - On hit on journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey and crackdown on dissent
• 20:34 - on 9/11
• 22:11 - on Saudi US relations
• 26:22 - On Saudi Arabia beat Argentina in the World Cup and sports changing tourism dynamic
• 29:28 - Changes Prince Mohammed bin Salaman and others are bringing, succession, and “custodian of the two holy mosques”

Israelis Come to See Red Heifer and Discuss the Temple

Israel Today (Link) - Ryan Jones (July 16, 2023)

Again the biblical red heifer is in the news, sparking renewed discussion about a future Third Temple in Jerusalem.

Hundreds of Israelis reportedly visited the Jewish settlement of Shiloh in central Samaria last week to welcome the first of three pure red heifers to arrive from the United States. Shiloh was the first biblical capital of Israel and the place where the Tabernacle stood for hundreds of years before King David moved it to Jerusalem.

The three red heifers will be housed at the Ancient Shiloh heritage site and a center will open there dedicated to researching the phenomenon. The heifers will be kept in a fenced-off area, and visitors will not be able to touch the animals.

The mysterious red heifer, or Parah Adumah, is first mentioned in the Book of Numbers, when God instructs Moses and Aaron to take “a perfectly red unblemished cow, upon which no yoke was laid.” The ashes of a red heifer are necessary for purification prior to conducting biblical sacrificial ceremonies. 

Likud MK Amit Halevi Proposes Plan to Divide Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

Jewish Press (Link) - Hana Levi Julian (June 7, 2023)

Likud Knesset member Amit Halevi is promoting a plan to divide the Temple Mount between Jews and Muslims.

Under the plan, Muslims will receive the southern Al Aqsa Mosque and its annexes and the Jews will receive the central and northern area, including the Dome of the Rock, the place on which it is believed that the Holy of Holies stood in the Temple.

In addition, Halevi suggests removing the Kingdom of Jordan’s authority over the Temple Mount by launching a process to remove its decades-long political status achieved through agreements with Israel.

The Temple Mount is not considered to be under Israeli sovereignty due to Jordan’s political status there, Halevi noted, saying it is a “sin to history” to give status to a foreign nation on the sacred site.

“Why not give them status in the Dizengoff Center as well? This is a terrible mistake. This status should be abolished. I know it’s an agreement between countries, but we have to deal with it. It requires change even if the process that will take time.”

Federal Reserve announces July launch for the FedNow Service

Federalreserve.gov (Link) - Press Release (March 15, 2023)

The Service will Debut with Financial Institutions and the U.S. Treasury on Board

CHICAGO – The Federal Reserve announced that the FedNow Service will start operating in July and provided details on preparations for launch.

The first week of April, the Federal Reserve will begin the formal certification of participants for launch of the service. Early adopters will complete a customer testing and certification program, informed by feedback from the FedNow Pilot Program, to prepare for sending live transactions through the system.

Certification encompasses a comprehensive testing curriculum with defined expectations for operational readiness and network experience. In June, the Federal Reserve and certified participants will conduct production validation activities to confirm readiness for the July launch.

"We couldn't be more excited about the forthcoming FedNow launch, which will enable every participating financial institution, the smallest to the largest and from all corners of the country, to offer a modern instant payment solution," said Ken Montgomery, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and FedNow program executive. "With the launch drawing near, we urge financial institutions and their industry partners to move full steam ahead with preparations to join the FedNow Service."

Many early adopters have declared their intent to begin using the service in July, including a diverse mix of financial institutions of all sizes, the largest processors, and the U.S. Treasury.

Is it time to ‘normalize’ the Temple Mount?

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Nave Dromi (September 13, 2020)

It is no coincidence that the deal to normalize relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates is called the “Abraham Accords.” The patriarch, common to both Judaism and Islam, is revered by both as the progenitor of both religions and peoples.

Both Jews and Muslims believe that Abraham was told to sacrifice his son, while commentators differ on the identity of the son. Jews of course believe that the binding of Isaac was a scene set on the Temple Mount that earlier was the point of creation and later became the location for the two greatest houses of worship for the Jewish nation.

Isaiah prophesied the Temple Mount in the future “will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Perhaps it would be prudent to finally realize this prophecy by allowing Jews and Muslims to pray on the Temple Mount in harmony and accord, without one trampling on the rights and liberties of the other.

Islamist Super-Bloc Begins Forming in the Middle East

The Clarion Project (Link) - Ryan Mauro  (November 6, 2013)

A monumental strategic shift is taking place in the Middle East as an Islamist super-bloc is forming. Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood are making up with Iran and Hezbollah. Egypt and the Gulf states are forming their own alliance. The U.S. outreach to Iran and the Brotherhood has left it missing from the equation.

The Syrian civil war has pitted the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey against Iran, Hezbollah, Iraq and the Syrian regime since 2011. Now, with a bloody stalemate resulting in consequences each side fears, the two sides are looking for ways to make amends.

Turkey has been trying to move its relationship with Iran past the ancient Ottoman-Persian rivalry for years. The Erdogan government gave secret U.S. intelligence to Iran and in early 2012, informed Iran about ten of its nationals meeting with Israeli intelligence inside Turkey.

One of the architects of the Turkish-Iranian relationship is Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, who the Israeli Defense Minister described as a “friend of Iran.” Some Israeli officials privately refer to him as the “station chief in Ankara” for Iranian intelligence.

These statements about Fidan’s role is not hype. The recent U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq, James Jeffrey, put it this way: “Hakan Fidan is the face of the new Middle East.”

Iran’s Rouhani Affirms Support for Syria, Hizbullah

Israel National News (Link) - Rina Tzvi (July 16, 2013)

Iranian president-elect Hasan Rouhani has sent messages to Syria’s Bashar Assad and Hizbullah reaffirming his support for the two allies, as well as his support of confrontation with Israel.

Iranian-Syrian ties will be able to confront “enemies in the region, especially the Zionist regime,” Rouhani said Tuesday, as quoted by the official IRNA news agency, adding that, Syria will “overcome its current crisis.”

Rouhani also “lauded the Syrian nation for its resistance against western plots” and said Syria will “overcome its current crisis,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Iran’s foreign ministry said earlier on Tuesday referred to Israel as “a warmonger regime,” saying that Prime Minister Binyamin Netnayahu seeks to damage relations between Iran and the international community.

UN Says More than 5,000 Believed Killed in Syria

The Mideast Update (Link) - Joshua Spurlock (December 13, 2011)

The United Nations again reported a substantial increase in the number of those killed in the ongoing violence against the opposition in Syria, upping the death toll to more than 5,000. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Monday that “credible reports from a variety of sources received by my office indicate that the total number of people killed [in Syria] since the protests began in March now probably exceeds 5,000,” according to a report on the website for the Office of the High Commissioner.

The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad has brutally repressed the opposition protest movement that began in March, reportedly using the Syrian military to open fire on its own citizens.

Pillay said the death total includes both civilians and soldiers who have defected from the regime or refused to shoot civilians. Ambassador Rosemary A. DiCarlo, the US deputy permanent representative to the UN, pointed out the number of those killed has risen by 3,000 in a matter of months.

“Almost four months ago the death toll was then at 2,000. It’s now around 5,000,” DiCarlo was quoted by a press release as saying. “So it’s more than doubled in the past four months.”

Arab Spring begins weeding out Christians

WorldNet Daily (Link) (December 10, 2011)

Islamic factions jockeying for position from out of the ashes of the Arab Spring are posing an increased threat to Middle East Christians, an international human rights group contends.

The British group Barnabas Aid says that Christians in Iran and Azerbaijan are coming under increased pressure from their governments.

Barnabas Aid wrote in its December prayer alert that there is cause for concern for Iran’s persecuted believers, because Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei recently urged more than 2.5 million Muslims on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to form “an international Islamic power bloc.”

The Ayatollah Khamenei told the listeners the Arab Spring was guided by Islam and said Muslims worldwide should rally to the Islamic cause.

The prayer alert also said the Iranian leader called on Muslims “to make the most of the opportunity” created by the Arab Spring, as well as the anti-capitalist “Occupy” movement across the world.

“Cataloguing Palestinian Duplicity”

Palestinian Media Watch (Link) (December 9, 2011)

“Just this week an important new book [Deception] arrived that details in exhaustive fashion the duplicity of the PA, under President Mahmoud Abbas, in speaking to the West of its recognition of Israel while at the same time spreading hate speech and glorifying terrorists at home.” [The Jewish Week, Dec. 6, 2011]

Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, and human rights leader Robert L. Bernstein hosted a press conference Tuesday launching Deception: Betraying the Peace Process.

Authors Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik document numerous breaches in the Palestinian Authority’s commitments to recognize Israel, to cease hate incitement and to reject violence and terror - requirements established by the international community and accepted by the PA.

The authors and human rights leaders warned that the hate speech and incitement against Israel by PA leaders is the fundamental impediment to achieving peace.

Israel deploys three armored units on northern border

World Tribune (Link) (December 2, 2011)

Israel has sent additional forces to its borders with Lebanon and Syria.

The Saudi-owned Al Hayat daily, quoting Israeli security sources, said the deployment was meant to counter any attack from its northern neighbors amid increasing international pressure on Iran, Syria and Hizbullah.

“Israel has decided to deploy three armored units at its northern border with Syria and Lebanon in fear that Arab economic sanctions on Syria would inflame the region,” Al Hayat said.

In a report on Nov. 28, the London-based daily said Israel has joined six other Middle East countries that have raised their military preparedness in wake of Arab and Western sanctions on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Al Hayat said Israel was retaining the option of sending additional military units to the Syrian border.

“It also has stepped up its work to complete the security fence surrounding the Syrian border and digging trenches,” Al Hayat said.

Putin prepares the Russian empire to strike back

The Guardian (Link) - Simon Tisdall (December 1, 2011)

As prime minister for the past four years, Vladimir Putin never really went away. But his looming reincarnation as the all-powerful, executive president of Russia – the country’s “paramount leader” in Chinese parlance – poses a stark challenge for which the US, Britain and other beleaguered western powers seem ill-prepared. As president, potentially until 2024, Putin has one overriding objective: the creation of a third, post-tsarist, post-Soviet Russian empire.

Putin famously described the collapse of the Soviet Union, the “evil empire” of Ronald Reagan’s imagining, as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” His aim, once this weekend’s heavily managed parliamentary elections and next March’s presidential coronation are out the way, is to put this disaster to rights. Reinstalled as president, and with his political potboy, Dmitry Medvedev, pushed aside, Putin will again exercise unchallengeable control over Russia’s external affairs.

Never much interested in domestic policy, Putin’s only political trick is a hyper-nationalism that pits a proudly embattled Russia against a hostile, US-led, world conspiracy. But the trick works. Despite mounting criticism during the Duma campaign, both supporters and opponents acknowledge his perceived achievement in restoring Russia’s standing in the world following Boris Yeltsin’s chaotic 1990s decade.

Brussels: The New Capital of Eurabia

Hudson New York (Link) - Soeren Kern (November 22, 2011)

Muslims now make up one-quarter of the population of Brussels, according to a new book published by the Catholic University of Leuven, the top French-language university in Belgium.

In real terms, the number of Muslims in Brussels -- where half of the number of Muslims in Belgium currently live --- has reached 300,000, which means that the self-styled “Capital of Europe” is now the most Islamic city in Europe.

In practical terms, Islam mobilizes more people in Brussels than do the Roman Catholic Church, political parties or even trade unions, according to “The Iris and the Crescent,” a book that is the product of more than one year of field research and was released to the public on November 18.

The book’s author, the sociologist Felice Dassetto, predicts that Muslims will comprise the majority of the population of Brussels by 2030.

In Belgium as a whole, Muslims comprise roughly 6% of the total population, one of the highest rates in Europe. This number is expected to rise to more than 10% by 2020.

‘Ireland most hostile country in Europe’

YNet News (Link) - Itamar Eichner (November 16, 2011)

Hatred of Israel reaches new levels in Ireland: An outrageous anti-Israel display was held over the weekend on Dublin’s main pedestrian street, presenting IDF soldiers as Nazi troops.

As part of the display, sponsored by the Dublin City Council, a group of pro-Palestinian activists set up a model of the separation fence and an IDF roadblock.

The activists dressed up as soldiers and beat, humiliated and pointed their weapons at other activists dressed as Palestinians, in front of thousands of Irish citizens and tourists.

The display joins accusations voiced against Israel at the Irish parliament last week, on the backdrop of claims that Israel “kidnapped,” abused and undressed Irish nationals who took part in a Gaza-bound flotilla stopped by the Israeli army recently.

Israel has strongly denied the accusations.

Arab League Suspension Intensifies Pressure on Syria

The Mideast Update (Link) - Joshua Spurlock (November 13, 2011)

The Arab League placed the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad under some of its harshest diplomatic pressure yet over the violent Syrian crackdown on protesters, with plans to suspend Syria’s activities in the League and calls for Arab nations to remove their ambassadors from Damascus. According to the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star, the Arab League foreign minister’s meeting also accepted the concept of sanctions, but did not go into detail. The newspaper said the Arab League decision, which was accepted by 18 of the 22 Arab state members on Saturday [November 12], suspends the activities of Syria’s representatives effective November 16 until Syria implements the League’s plan for resolving the protester situation.

The League also wants to meet with the Syrian opposition this week to outline a “joint vision for the coming transitional period in Syria.” They have not yet decided whether or not to recognize the opposition.

The strong Arab League step against one of its members follows continued Syrian violence—even after the Assad government accepted the League plan for resolving the conflict on November 2.

Steel On Steel Persecution Update

Steel on Steel - Donald McElvaney (October 23, 2011)

1. Hard-line Muslims in Egypt Attack Coptic Church, Homes

2. Why Is Islamic Extremism Growing in Indonesia?

3. Progress in Pakistani Rape Case, but Alleged Victim’s Father Dies

4. Pakistani Muslims Fire on Christians in Land-Grab, Killing One

5. Maldives Arrests, Deports Indian Teacher for Owning Bible

6. Pakistani Mother Condemned for ‘Blasphemy’ Allegedly Beaten

7. Islamic Extremists in Somalia Behead 17-year-old Christian

Steel On Steel Persecution Update

Steel on Steel - Donald McElvaney (September 27, 2011)

1. Iranian Authorities Free Christian after Year in Prison

2. Christians Live in Cloud of Fear in Zanzibar, Tanzania

3. Iranian Christian Pays for Faith with 105 Days in Evin Prison

4. Christian Nurse in Pakistan Boldly Opts to Report Videotaped Rape

5. Christians in Bhutan Seek to Dispel Regime’s Mistrust

6. Somali Convert to Christianity Kidnapped, Beheaded

7. Muslim Extremists in Sudan Threaten to Target Christians

8. Messianic Jews Singled Out in Israeli Town

Steel On Steel Persecution Update

Steel on Steel - Donald McElvaney (September 16, 2011)

1. Nepal’s Churches Live under Threat, Discrimination

2. Church Building in North Sudan in Ruins as Hostilities Grow

3. Nigerian Army Said to Help in Slaughter of Christians

4. Church Leaders in Bangladesh Beaten at Police Station

5. Turkey Overturns Historic Religious Property Seizures

6. Two Pakistani Christians Seriously Injured for Refusing Islam

7. Muslim Extremists from Niger Help Kill Christians in Nigeria

8. Christians in China Suffer for Supporting Shouwang Church

Turkey-Israel ties fall to new low in response to UN flotilla report

Christian Science Monitor (Link) - Ariel Zirulnick (September 2, 2011)

Turkey-Israel relations dipped to a new low today over a long-awaited United Nations report on the Gaza flotilla debacle, freezing a key regional alliance despite more than a year of attempts to resuscitate ties.

Turkey announced today that it is expelling Israel’s ambassador and suspending all joint military agreements after failing to secure a formal apology from Israel for the deaths of eight Turks and one Turkish-American on May 31, 2010, when Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of the flotilla.

The convoy of ships had been seeking to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, which Israel said was necessary to prevent the Islamist militant group Hamas from obtaining weapons but which many in the international community had objected to on humanitarian grounds.

The UN report, due to be formally released today but leaked yesterday by The New York Times, surprised many by declaring Israel’s blockade of Gaza as legal. While it criticized Israeli commandos for using “excessive and unreasonable” force in halting the mainly Turkish flotilla, it requested merely that Israel “express regret” for the deaths and pay unspecified reparations to the families, the Times reported.

Signs of the Times: Ezekiel’s Prophecies Set to Unfold?

CBN News (Link) - Chris Mitchell & Julie Stahl (August 22, 2011)

Last year, an international crisis exploded when Israel stopped a flotilla of ships from breaking its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The incident left Israel feeling more isolated, but some Jews saw the pages of scripture coming alive through the crisis.

When Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish-owned flagship, Mavi Mamara, leading the flotilla, things quickly turned deadly. Pro-Palestinian activists attacked the soldiers, who then defended themselves. Nine activists died in the melee.

Israel acted to keep weapons out of Hamas-controlled Gaza, but that didn’t stop an international rush to judgment.

The U.N. Security Council condemned Israel and called for an investigation.

Sweden, Ireland and other nations planned boycotts against the Jewish state.

EU—Power to the President!

The Trumpet (Link) - Ron Fraser (August 22, 2011)

There’s a profound leadership gap in Europe.

At a time of increasing crisis, commentators are crying out for someone to step up and take the lead in stemming the spread of the euro crisis:

“Investors have little if any confidence in eurozone leaders’ ability to stick together in the face of mounting calamity …” (Wall Street Journal, August 9; emphasis added throughout). “Markets can adjust to a downgrade of global growth, but they cannot cope with a spiraling loss of confidence in leadership and a growing sense that policymakers are disconnected from reality” (Financial Times, August 8). “In a sane world, the German chancellor and the French president would sack their economic advisers who clearly lack an understanding of basic economics or national accounting principles” (EU Observer, August 17). “A poll released Friday indicates Germans know little about the current euro crisis—but are overwhelmingly opposed to the way it is being handled by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the two leaders spearheading efforts to solve the crisis” (Spiegel Online, August 19).

As the European Union fragments into what will ultimately comprise 10 leading nations, the rest enslaved politically—if not in the fullest sense of the word—to one centralizing power (Revelation 17), the leadership gap is becoming most glaring.

Henry Kissinger during the 1970s famously asked the question, “If I want to call Europe, who do I call?”

EU elites moved to begin solving that dilemma by creating the office of president of the European Council within the Lisbon Treaty/EU constitution ratified in December 2009. Appointments to that presidency are for a period of 2½ years, renewable once. That position is currently held by Belgian Herman Van Rompuy. The European Council comprises all EU member nations’ heads of state. It sets strategy and direction for the European Union.

Christian Genocide in Somalia

FrontPage Magazine (Link) - Frank Crimi (August 19, 2011)

The Islamist terrorist group al Shabab is intentionally starving Somali Christians in territory it controls. It’s just the latest incident in the terror group’s systematic efforts to eradicate all of Somalia’s Christians.

According to the International Christian Concern (ICC), al Shabab’s intentional denial of humanitarian aid has resulted in the deliberate starvation of 18 Christians in the Somali cities of Afgoye, Baidawa, and Kismayo. As ICC spokesman Jonathan Racho said, “Any Somali that is suspected of being a Christian, or a friend of a Christian, does not receive any food aid.”

Unfortunately, the ongoing and purposeful elimination of the small Somali Christian community at the hands of al Shabab has gone largely unrecognized and unreported, eclipsed by the other horrors of rape, torture and murder perpetrated upon most of Somalia’s Muslim population by the Islamist terrorist group.

It goes without saying that al Shabab’s brutality has been well documented, most recently in a report issued by Human Rights Watch, which found the terror group continuing to carry out public beheadings and floggings; forced recruitment of children into its forces; and the denial of humanitarian assistance to the 2.2 million starving Somalis in al Shabab-controlled territory.

Global Economic Downturn: A Crisis of Political Economy

Stratfor Global Intelligence (Link) - George Friedman (August 9, 2011)

Classical political economists like Adam Smith or David Ricardo never used the term “economy” by itself. They always used the term “political economy.” For classical economists, it was impossible to understand politics without economics or economics without politics. The two fields are certainly different but they are also intimately linked. The use of the term “economy” by itself did not begin until the late 19th century. Smith understood that while an efficient market would emerge from individual choices, those choices were framed by the political system in which they were made, just as the political system was shaped by economic realities. For classical economists, the political and economic systems were intertwined, each dependent on the other for its existence.

The current economic crisis is best understood as a crisis of political economy. Moreover, it has to be understood as a global crisis enveloping the United States, Europe and China that has different details but one overriding theme: the relationship between the political order and economic life. On a global scale, or at least for most of the world’s major economies, there is a crisis of political economy. Let’s consider how it evolved.

Steel On Steel Persecution Update

Steel on Steel - Donald McElvaney (August 6, 2011)

1. Pastor in Iran Awaits Decision on Execution

2. Muslims Seize Christian Burial Sites in Tanzania’s Archipelago

3. House Church Alliance Leader in China Sentenced to Labor Camp

4. Muslim Extremists Torch Churches in Zanzibar, Tanzania

5. Two Bombs Explode Near Churches in Jos, Nigeria

6. Kidnapped Christian Girl in Sudan Escapes, Traumatized

7. Blast Near Church in Kirkuk, Iraq Injures 13

8. Muslim Extremists in India Attack, Threaten Christian Women

Egypt’s Transition Six Months On: From Diversity to Divisiveness

The Brookings Institution (Link) - Khaled Elgindy (August 4, 2011)

Last month, I traveled to Cairo to gain a better understanding of the political transition now underway following the Egyptian people’s historic uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak from power six months ago. While the situation remains rather fluid today, several important observations can be made about the state of Egypt’s turbulent transition.

One of the more striking features of the current transition is the extraordinary diversity and dynamism of Egypt’s burgeoning political landscape. Since the removal of Mubarak, whose historic trial began in Cairo, Egypt has seen an explosion in civic and political activity across the country and in all areas of life, including the proliferation of dozens of new political parties, movements, and groupings of all stripes. Previously apolitical actors like the youth movements that led the January uprising and the ultra-orthodox Salafists have now entered the political fray for the first time. Even established powers like the Muslim Brotherhood are undergoing major transformations with defections and splits along generational and philosophical lines. Competition, debate, and shifting alliances among the various youth, liberal, leftist, and Islamist forces unleashed by the revolution (including those who had opposed it) have brought Egypt’s once comatose political culture back to life - but not without a price.

Senate Panel Keeps ‘Secret Patriot Act’ Under Wraps

Wired (Link) - Noah Shachtman (August 2, 2011)

The secret Patriot Act is staying secret.

Two Senators have been warning for months that the government has a secret legal interpretation of the Patriot Act so broad that it amounts to an entirely different law — one that gives the feds massive domestic surveillance powers, and keeps the rest of us in the dark about the snooping.

“There is a significant discrepancy between what most Americans – including many members of Congress – think the Patriot Act allows the government to do and how government officials interpret that same law,” wrote the Senators, Ron Wyden and Mark Udall. “We believe that most members of the American public would be very surprised to learn how federal surveillance law is being interpreted in secret.”

The Senators tried to get the government to reveal some of the law’s contents, by forcing the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General to produce a report outlining when this secret surveillance has gone overboard. Yesterday, the effort failed. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said no to the report by rejecting Wyden and Udall’s amendment to the FY2012 Intelligence Authorization Act.

In other words: we are all still in the dark about how the government is spying on us.

The Battle for Syria

The Trumpet (Link) - Robert Morley (August 2, 2011)

When the United States government and al Qaeda agree on something, you know that can’t be a good thing.

In this case, they both want Syrian President Bashir Assad to step down. Bizarrely, that’s not all they agree on. On July 11, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “President Assad is not indispensable. … Our goal is to see that the will of the Syrian people for a democratic transformation occurs” (emphasis added throughout).

Responding to America’s overtures to the anti-government protesters, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri warned the pro-democracy activists not to deal with America. America would only corrupt them, he said. He called Assad, however, a “leader of criminal gangs,” an “aggressor,” an “oppressor,” and a “traitor” to his people. He applauded the pro-democracy activists’ efforts to teach Assad a “lesson.” And he hailed Syrian protesters as “mujahideen,” or holy warriors.

Both America and al Qaeda are pushing for democracy in Syria. Yet for all the talk, that is mostly all it is. Neither group has much influence in Syria.

Steel On Steel Persecution Update

Steel on Steel - Donald McElvaney (July 30, 2011)

1. Imprisoned Lao Pastor ‘Extremely Weak,’ Family Says

2. Churches in Nigeria Shuttered, Reduced with Uptick in Terrorism

3. Pakistani Muslims Convicted for Beating Christian to Death

4. Funeral Held for Christians Killed in Suleja, Nigeria Bombing

5. India Briefs

3 Reasons the Media Quickly Embraced the Label ‘Fundamentalist Christian’ for Norway’s Terrorist

The Christian Post (Link) - Ed Stetzer (July 29, 2011)

By now, it appears, the media has decided that Norway’s shooter was not a “Christian fundamentalist.” GetReligion’s Terry Mattingly, explained:

At this point, I think most journalists have reached the point that they know that Anders Behring Breivik (a) has self-identified as a ‘Christian,’ (b) yet he also made it clear that he is not a Christian believer, in terms of beliefs and practice and (c) that it is bizarre to call him a “fundamentalist,” in any historic sense of the word.

This is a far cry from initial reports. CNN is my preferred news station and could not count how many times I heard the word, “Christian fundamentalist.” We are told we should renounce the “Christian terrorist,” and lest anyone be unclear, I (and all Christians) do. That label “Christian fundamentalist” traveled around the world before anyone asked if it was correct. Now, calmer voices have emerged. CNN’s Belief Blog brings the clarity:

Steel On Steel Persecution Update: India Briefs

Steel on Steel - Mahruaii Sailo (July 22, 2011)

Andhra Pradesh, India, July 8 (Compass Direct News) – Pastor Johnny Lazarus, 50, was beaten by Hindu extremists on June 28 at Bollepally village in Bhongir Mandal. The All India Christian Council (AICC) reported that one extremist, Malla Reddy, accused Pastor Lazarus of performing witchcraft on him. Reddy and his family members verbally abused the pastor and his faith, saying, “You brought a low-caste god among us,” slapped him and threatened to harm him further if he did not leave the area immediately. The pastor reported the attack to police and to the AICC. Police officers summoned both parties on July 1, and the attackers apologized to the pastor, putting into writing that they would not disturb him again. The pastor forgave his assailants.