LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِFebeuary
06/2010
Bible Of The
Day
The Good News According to
Luke 14/7-14: " He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed
how they chose the best seats, and said to them, 14:8 “When you are invited by
anyone to a marriage feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone
more honorable than you might be invited by him, 14:9 and he who invited both of
you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin,
with shame, to take the lowest place. 14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit
in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you,
‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who
sit at the table with you. 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 14:12 He also said to the
one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your
friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps
they might also return the favor, and pay you back. 14:13 But when you make a
feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; 14:14 and you will be
blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be
repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”
Latest
analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases
from
miscellaneous
sources
Hamas blows up Egypt-Israel-Jordan
gas pipeline. Supply cutoff indefinite/DEBKAfile/February
05/11
Harper on Egypt: Democracy, yes,
but one rooted in respect for rights, laws/The Canadian Press/February
05/11
Egypt’s reformer/By: Lawrence
Solomon/ February
05/11
Arab citizens or only Arab
Christians? /By: Harry Hagopian/February 5, 2011
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 05/11
Saudi religious head slams Arab
uprisings/Now Lebanon
Egypt slams Iran for calling the
unrest an 'Islamic awakening/DPA
Muslim Brothers say no Islamic
revolution in Egypt/Now Lebanon
Gas pipeline to Jordan, Syria
set ablaze in Egypt/CNN
Clinton: U.S. wants orderly but
expeditious transition in Egypt/Reuters
France suspends arms sales to
Egypt/Now Lebanon
Geagea expects March 8 views to
outline upcoming Lebanese situation/Now Lebanon
Hezbollah discontent with Mikati's statements on STL, 'As-siyasa'
reports/iloubnan.info
Syria Tightens Security Amid Calls for Protests/Voice of America
Why the Arab Democracy Wave is Unlikely to Reach Syria -- Yet/Time
Al-Maliki Confirmed In 2009 That Syria, Iran Provided Weapons To
Terrorist Groups/MEMRI (blog)
New Lebanese Prime Minister Unlikely to Alter Policy/Voice of America
Aoun launched another attack against Hariri/Ya Libnan
Will Syria come next?/J.Post
'Day of Rage' for Syrians Fails to Draw Protesters/New York Times
Army
Investigates Blast at a Garage in Tayr Felsay
/Naharnet
U.S. Warships Disrupt
Lebanon's Internet Services
/Naharnet
Diplomats: International
Community Adopts Wait-and-See Approach on Miqati Cabinet
/Naharnet
Gemayel after Meeting
Miqati: Unilateralism Eliminates Suleiman's Role
/Naharnet
Franjieh Insists on 2
Portfolios, Says Country Needs Scoundrels not Technocrats
/Naharnet
Cabinet 'Identity' to be
Unveiled as Soon as March 14 Announces its Decision to Miqati
/Naharnet
Christian Representation Hinders
Cabinet Formation Process Amid Conflicting Demands
/Naharnet
MP Okab Sakr: March 14
will soon announce its boycott of the cabinet/Now Lebanon
Hamas blows up Egypt-Israel-Jordan
gas pipeline. Supply cutoff indefinite
http://www.debka.com/article/20633/
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis February 5, 2011, The pipeline supplying Egyptian
gas to Israel and Jordan was blown up near the North Sinai town of El Arish
early Saturday Feb. 5. Egyptian state TV reported "terrorists" had carried out
the attack which caused a huge explosion and fire. Israeli Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu conferred urgently with Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau
and energy firms over the abrupt cutoff of 25 percent of Israel's gas needs and
ordered security beefed up at energy installations.
The Egyptian and Israeli accounts are contradictory.
An Israeli official spokesman said the explosion was nowhere near the Israeli
section of the pipeline and closer to the Jordanian branch. The Egyptian
spokesman spoke only of supplies to Israel which he said had been suspended as a
precaution because there had been several smaller explosions along the pipe.
The Israeli Infrastructure Ministry spokesman reported that Egyptian gas, which
covers 25 percent of Israel's needs, had been cut off at 0900 Saturday morning.
He did not foresee regular power supplies being disrupted.
debkafile's counter-terror sources report that the attack on the El Arish gas
facility was planned on military lines by a special Hamas team which infiltrated
Sinai from Gaza last week. It was a major Hamas operation against on Israel
(which incidentally supplies most of the Gaza Strip's power), and blatant
Palestinian interference in Egypt's domestic unrest. It was also a fiasco for
the joint IDF-and Egyptian military effort to police Sinai during the turbulence
in Egypt and secure this strategic peninsula against destabilization by
terrorists.
Muslim Brotherhood spokesmen in Cairo were quick to attach responsibility for
the pipeline attack on disaffected Bedouin – a clumsy attempt, say debkafile's
sources, to clear their offshoot, Hamas, of blame for a well-planned act of
which they must have had prior knowledge.
Jordan is badly hit by the loss of Egyptian gas which covers 80 percent of its
energy consumption. The Hashemite kingdom will have to resort to the far more
expensive heavy oil and diesel to keep its power supply running and raise fuel
prices after the king yielded to Islamist-back protesters' demands to reduce
prices.
The close rapport between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian and
Lebanese terrorist organizations came to light earlier in the Hizballah-led
operation to release Lebanese Hizballah, Palestinian Hamas and Egyptian
Brotherhood convicts from Wadi Natrun jail north of Cairo Sunday, Jan. 30, first
revealed by debkafile.
While the Hamas and Hizballah escapees headed for Sinai and Gaza, the MB
activists made straight for the hubs of disturbance in Egypt.
The embattled Mubarak administration in Cairo may well find it politic to
indefinitely put off repairing the pipe and restoring supplies to Israel for two
reasons:
1. The incident will support Mubarak's argument that his immediate departure as
demanded by Obama would throw Egypt into chaos – and not only Egypt, but
resonate devastatingly across the entire region. Not just Israel, but its second
peace partner, Jordan, is badly hit too by the loss of Egyptian gas which covers
80 percent of its energy consumption. Amman will have to convert to the far more
expensive heavy oil and diesel to keep its power supply running. Fuel prices
will have to be raised shortly after the king dropped them to quell the
Islamist-back protests shaking the kingdom.
2. Some of the opposition factions backed by the US for a role in future
government, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, are fiercely opposed to Egypt's
peace relations with Israel which he has promoted for 32 years. The sale of
Egyptian gas to Israel has come under constant attack in the street, which has
accused the government of undercutting world prices and defrauding the Egyptian
treasury.
The Mubarak regime and Egyptian army may want to show they respect popular
opinion and are not American or Israeli pawns by not repairing the pipeline and
keeping the gas supply to Israel cut off.
debkafile reports that the Israeli Infrastructure Ministry's assurance that no
power disruptions were foreseen glosses over the serious repercussions of the
loss overnight of a quarter of Israel's gas consumption for manufacturing
electricity and its lack of gas reserves.
Israel's power stations will have to switch immediately from gas to heavy oil or
coal, a complicated technical process that will have a bad effect on the
environment. Energy officials told debkafile Saturday that the power stations
affected are Hadera, Haifa (which is partly gas-fueled) and the Tel Aviv Reading
facility which was only recently converted to gas. All Israel's emergency
electricity stations are also powered by gas.
Therefore, the Infrastructure Ministry's assurance may have been premature.
Saudi religious head slams Arab uprisings
February 5, 2011 /Saudi Arabia's top Muslim authority has warned that
anti-regime uprisings are "chaotic acts" aimed at tearing apart the Islamic
world, As-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday. "These chaotic acts have come
from the enemies of Islam and those who serve them," said Grand Mufti Sheikh
Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, known for his close ties to the Saudi
monarchy. "Inciting unrest between people and their leaders in these protests is
aimed at hitting the [Muslim world] at its core and tearing it apart," he said
in a speech in Riyadh at the weekly prayers.The mufti, whose country has given
refuge to Tunisia's ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, said uprising also
triggered "bloodshed" and "stealing."
The protests in Egypt and Tunisia - sparked by poverty and unemployment - are
"hitting" the economies of Muslim nations "in a plot aimed at turning them into
backward countries," he said.
In a telephone call with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi King Abdullah
last week expressed his support for the embattled president and slammed those
"tampering" with the country's security and stability.-AFP/NOW Lebanon
Egypt slams
Iran for calling the unrest an 'Islamic awakening'
By DPA /Latest update 16:24 05.02.11
Egyptian FM says comment by Ayatollah Khamenei 'crossed all red lines' and slams
Iran's 'hopes to establish an Islamic Middle East.'Egypt's foreign minister
Ahmed Abul-Gheit criticized Saturday remarks by Iran's supreme leader that the
unrest in Egypt was a sign of an Islamic movement gaining strength in the Arab
world. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday compared the turmoil in Cairo to the
period before the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 and described the recent
events as an "Islamic awakening." Abul-Gheit said the comment "crossed all red
lines by addressing Egypt's internal issues through a hostile and hateful
perspective." He said, "The hopes to establish an Islamic Middle East led by
Iran reveal what the state seeks to achieve in the region." Khamenei also said
that "the echo of the Iranian nation is now heard in North Africa," and that a
new political setup in Egypt would endanger Israel's existence. Iran and Egypt
severed diplomatic ties after the 1979 revolution because of Cairo's peace
treaty with Israel, although the two governments do maintain interest sections.
Egypt's anti-government protests entered their 12th day on Saturday, as
thousands of protesters refused to relent on their core demand that President
Hosni Mubarak step down.
Clinton: U.S. wants orderly but expeditious transition in Egypt
By Reuters /05.02.11
Middle East faces a 'perfect storm' of unrest, regional leaders must quickly
enact real democratic reforms or risk even greater instability, Clinton says.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday that Egypt's
political transition should take place "as orderly but as expeditiously as
possible" to give enough time for democratic elections to be prepared.
"President Mubarak has announced he will not stand for reelection nor will his
son ... He has given a clear message to his government to lead and support this
process of transition," Clinton told a Munich security conference. "That is what
the government has said it is trying to do, that is what we are supporting, and
hope to see it move as orderly but as expeditiously as possible under the
circumstances." Clinton warned that the Middle East faces a "perfect storm" of
unrest and regional leaders must quickly enact real democratic reforms or risk
even greater instability. "The region is being battered by a perfect storm of
powerful trends," Clinton said. "This is what has driven demonstrators into the
streets of Tunis, Cairo, and cities throughout the region. The status quo is
simply not sustainable."
Report: U.S. Warships Disrupt Lebanon's Internet Services
Naharnet/The movement of U.S. warships in the Mediterranean sea has been
disrupting Lebanon's internet services in the past three weeks, An Nahar daily
reported Saturday.
The newspaper said that the problems which began when former Premier Saad
Hariri's government collapsed are not the result of operations conducted by
UNIFIL's naval force.
The problems have affected big companies and banks from the southern city of
Sidon all the way to the Lebanese-Syrian border in the north, An Nahar said.
However, it said it received information that U.S. warships that are currently
in Mediterranean waters are affecting the internet services in Lebanon. Engineer
Antoine Bustani, a telecom expert, confirmed to Voice of Lebanon radio station
that radars of warships disrupt internet and other telecommunications services.
The telecommunications ministry has launched efforts to solve the issue, he
said. The plan will be implemented in several stages, Bustani added. Beirut, 05
Feb 11, 08:13
Christian Representation Hinders Cabinet Formation Process Amid Conflicting
Demands
Naharnet/Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati on Saturday continued to face
obstacles to his cabinet formation process over the Christian representation, a
scenario that Lebanese governments have witnessed since 2005. Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat
quoted sources following up contacts to form the government as saying that Free
Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is rejecting to give shares to President
Michel Suleiman and wants a homogenous 30-member cabinet that only includes the
March 8 forces. Aoun also reportedly wants his Change and Reform bloc to get the
interior, telecom, justice and energy portfolios and is demanding the right to
give his opinion on the choice of Christian ministers from outside his bloc.
Aoun's demands are one of the major problems that Miqati is trying to solve, the
sources said. Another problem is Miqati's choice for deputy premier after Issam
Fares rejected the post. The sources said the PM-designate wants to give the
seat to a neutral politician and not a member from the March 8 forces. Marada
movement leader Suleiman Franjieh is also insisting on naming his ally former
lawmaker Fayez Ghosn as deputy PM and is seeking to get a sovereign portfolio,
al-Hayat's sources said. Miqati is seeking to limit the demands of the FPM and
appease Aoun's stance by holding talks with several of his allies, mainly
Speaker Nabih Berri who insists on facilitating the PM-designate's mission, they
said. Berri is also seeking to give the energy portfolio to a member of his AMAL
movement, the sources added. Beirut, 05 Feb 11, 09:38
2 Lebanese Killed in Sulaimaniyah Plane Crash
Naharnet/Two Lebanese were among seven people killed in the crash of a small
private jet in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah on Friday, the National
News Agency reported.
Among the dead were three members of the flight crew, including the two Lebanese
– Stephanie Louqa from the coastal town of Batroun and Abdullah Lahoud, NNA said
Saturday. The third crew member was Jordanian Marwan Dahli, it said. The
remaining four were technicians and shareholders with Iraqi mobile phone company
Asiacell, an airport official in Iraq said. "The plane, which was a small
private jet, crashed shortly after it took off because of bad weather," he said.
"Seven people have died, including three crew." The plane was headed to the
Turkish capital of Ankara. It had first taken of from Beirut airport to
Sulaimaniyah on Friday morning. Among the dead were Bassel Rahim, a shareholder
in the mobile phone operator and the brother of Rand Rahim, who was the first
Iraqi ambassador to Washington after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted
dictator Saddam Hussein. Sulaimaniyah, 270 kilometers north of Baghdad, is the
second biggest city in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, and is the
headquarters of Asiacell.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 05 Feb 11, 10:15
Suleiman Hopes for Cooperation Among Officials to Form Cabinet Capable of
Confronting Challenges
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman hoped on Saturday that Lebanese officials
would cooperate with Premier-designate Najib Miqati to form a cabinet that would
face administrative, economic and security challenges. The government should be
formed "based on the democratic principles that distinguish Lebanon," Suleiman
said. The cabinet should "confront the challenges in the administrative and
economic fields," the president said, adding it should provide security to
citizens. Suleiman met with Caretaker Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi and
Secretary-General of the Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council Nasri Khoury. Beirut, 05
Feb 11, 13:55
Diplomats: International Community Adopts Wait-and-See Approach on Miqati
Cabinet
Naharnet/Diplomats at the United Nations said they have "taken notice" of
Premier-designate Najib Miqati's vows to remain committed to international
resolutions, including the resolution that established the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon. The diplomats, who refused to be identified, told An Nahar daily that
"until now" Lebanese institutions "are working correctly."
The constitutional process of cabinet formation is a Lebanese affair, they said,
however, they expected "the next government to hold onto Lebanon's international
commitments, including the STL." The international community is waiting for the
cabinet line-up and its policy statement "to take the appropriate stance" from
it, the diplomats told An Nahar. They refused to comment on French President
Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal to establish a "contact group" on Lebanon. Beirut, 05
Feb 11, 07:43
Jumblat for Balanced Cabinet, Says March 14 Lost Major Ally in Egypt
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said Premier-designate
Najib Miqati was seeking to form a centrist and balanced cabinet without falling
in the "illusion" that the March 14 forces would participate in the cabinet.
"The best way to deal (with the cabinet formation process) is to come up with a
centrist and balanced government," Jumblat told Marcel Ghanem's Kalam al-Nass
talk show on LBC TV network on Thursday night. Miqati is seeking to have an
acceptable cabinet structure "without falling in the illusion that March 14
would participate," he said. Jumblat advised former Premier Saad Hariri not to
listen to the advices of the U.S. and France "because geopolitics is more
important." The Druze leader said last week that geopolitics means having good
ties with Syria. "Unfortunately we weren't able to unify and the sectarian
system is dividing the (Lebanese) society," the MP said when asked if he
believed Lebanon would witness anti-regime demonstrations similar to Egypt.
"March 14 lost a major ally," he said about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's
regime. "The alliance wasn't able to move the street," Jumblat told LBC about
the March 14 forces. "We are heading towards a new, free and democratic Middle
East," he said. Jumblat held talks with Miqati in Verdun on Thursday. He
declined to make a statement after the meeting. However, MTV reported that talks
between the two men did not tackle the distribution of portfolios in the new
cabinet. Beirut, 04 Feb 11, 09:43
Muslim Brothers say no Islamic revolution in Egypt
February 5, 2011 /Egypt's influential Muslim Brotherhood is keeping a low
profile in the current unrest because it does not want the revolt to be seen as
an Islamic revolution, one of its leaders said in an interview to be published
Monday. "It is an uprising of the Egyptian people," spokesman Rashad al-Bayoumi
told the German weekly Der Spiegel, while accusing President Hosni Mubarak's
government of distorting the image of the movement. "The West won't listen to
us, but we're not devils," he said. "We want peace not violence.”US Republican
senator John McCain, in a separate interview with the weekly, said it would be a
great mistake to include the Muslim Brotherhood in a future transitional
Egyptian government.
The Muslim Brotherhood's leader Mohammad Badie said Friday the group is ready to
hold talks on the transition from Mubarak's rule once he has resigned.
In a television address late on Thursday, newly appointed Vice President Omar
Suleiman announced he was open to including the Muslim Brotherhood in talks he
plans to hold with the opposition.-AFP/NOW Lebanon
Geagea expects March 8 views to outline upcoming Lebanese situation
February 5, 2011 /Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea said on Saturday that
the upcoming political situation in Lebanon will be based on the views of the
March 8 coalition.
“The upcoming phase [will be based] on the views of March 8, which differ from
the views of President [Michel Sleiman] and Prime Minister-designate [Najib
Mikati],” Geagea told the Free Lebanon radio station. He voiced hope that
Sleiman would not endorse the protocol of the new cabinet headed by Mikati,
adding that the cabinet will not represent the various Lebanese political
parties. He also said that Hezbollah is currently refraining from making
statements regarding the cabinet formation while Free Patriotic Movement leader
MP Michel Aoun is acting as the façade of March 8. “Hezbollah is smarter than
Aoun, and if the former had any serious and respectful position, it would
declare it, [otherwise] it will [make] Aoun and others speak.” The LF leader
added that the views of March 14 parties are coherent regarding the cabinet
formation.
On January 12, Hezbollah brought down Saad Hariri's government after a
long-running dispute over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) probe of
ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s 2005 murder, which the party worries will implicate
its members. Mikati, who was appointed to the premiership with the backing of
the March 8 coalition, has called on all Lebanese parties to join his upcoming
cabinet. However, March 14 parties have said that they will not take part
in a cabinet headed by Mikati and have also asked that he first clarify his
stance on non-state weapons and the STL.-NOW Lebanon
France suspends arms sales to Egypt
February 5, 2011 /France said on Saturday it had suspended sales of arms and
riot police equipment to Egypt amid mass protests pressing for Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak to step down. The decision was taken by the French prime
minister's office at an extraordinary meeting on January 27, and was conveyed to
those concerned the following day, an aide to French PM Francois Fillon told AFP,
confirming a report on the website of the daily Le Monde. With regard to
equipment used to maintain public order, "Export permits for explosive materiel,
mostly tear gas grenades, are the responsibility of customs. These were
suspended on January 25," the aide said. Egypt has been rocked by a popular
uprising since January 25 seeking to topple Mubarak, in power for nearly 30
years. The French government was recently challenged by the Socialist opposition
as to why it had continued to allow exports of such products to Tunisia after
the uprising which eventually forced long-time president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali
to flee. Fillon acknowledged that France had authorized the exports to Tunisia
in November last year and January, until just before the departure of Ben Ali,
but said the exports had not taken place. In December and January, there had
been "no deliveries of war materiel" to the Tunisian authorities," Fillon said,
insisting that they needed the rubber stamp of a committee answerable to the
prime minister.-AFP/NOW Lebanon
MP Okab Sakr: March 14 will soon announce its boycott of the cabinet
February 5, 2011 /Lebanon First bloc MP Okab Sakr said on Saturday that the March 14 alliance will
announce within a day that it is not participating in Prime Minister-designate
Najib Mikati’s upcoming cabinet.
“[March 8] wants to take us back to one-party [governance], whereas we want
partnership,” Sakr told MTV.
“Outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri was negotiating to end Lebanon’s crisis,
but the other side was negotiating to remove Hariri,” he added. “Mikati said
that his nomination by Hezbollah binds him to protect the Resistance.”Mikati, who was appointed to the premiership on January 25 with the backing of
March 8, has called on all Lebanese parties to join his upcoming cabinet.However, March 14 parties have said that they will not take part in a cabinet
headed by Mikati and have also asked that he first clarify his stances on
non-state weapons and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is
investigating former PM Rafik Hariri’s 2005 murder.-NOW Lebanon
Arab citizens or only Arab Christians?
By: Harry Hagopian/February 5, 2011
Living in a recession-hit but comparatively well-heeled Europe today, I look at
the Middle East-North Africa region with one overriding thought. Simply put,
ordinary men and women are at long last seeking to assert their identity and
retrieve their dignity after decades of corruption, deprivation and subjugation.
Tunisia was somehow the unwitting springboard, but it seems to have awakened at
long last a visceral and almost liberating instinct in the political imagination
of many Arabs that gives ample meaning to the late Tunisian poet, Abul Qasim al-Shabi,
who wrote in The Will of Life, “If the people will to live, providence is
destined to favorably respond; and night is destined to fold, and the chains are
certain to be broken; and he who has not been embraced by the love of life, will
evaporate in its atmosphere and disappear.”
If managed prudently, this moment could well become epic for much of the Arab
world, where the status quo ante of dictators and despots is being challenged
collectively by older and younger generations alike without even the certainty
of a final destination or that political parties may muscle in with their own
agendas. In my estimation, this uprising is more meaningful than the Palestinian
Intifada of 1987 (certainly more than the ill-advised armed Al-Aqsa Intifada of
2000) and hopefully more resilient than the Lebanese Cedar Revolution of 2005.
But suddenly, after decades of political torpor and moral lassitude, many Arabs
are standing up to be counted and ventilating their pent-up frustrations on the
streets. The regimes – and their erstwhile allies – find themselves caught on
the back foot as they scramble to come up with coherent standpoints that neither
alienate the masses nor abandon those defining their geo-strategic interests.
Moreover, I find it a remarkable lesson in sociology that Al-Jazeera satellite
channels have joined hands with Facebook and Twitter to choreograph much of this
tidal wave starting to sweep the region.
These somewhat spontaneous and ostensibly “leaderless” uprisings are seeking to
correct the successive colonial legacies that were foisted upon the Arab World
in the early decades of the 20th century, and to implement those fundamental
freedoms and citizenship rights inherent to democracy and good governance.
However, in the midst of this groundswell, it is necessary to remember that the
woes facing many parts of this region are not merely political or
socio-economic. They are also ethno-religious as much as sectarian or
confessional in nature, particularly when it comes to the woes of indigenous
Arab Christians, who have incidentally been at the forefront of progressive
movements in the past but who for far too long have also faced their own
uncertainties, paradoxes, quandaries, fears and persecutions.
Am I being a tad unfair by injecting an almost parochial note of caution into an
exhilarating moment of hope? Not necessarily, because a rule of thumb states
that an equitable society is one where its total represents the sum of its
different components – and Arab Christians remain one throbbing historical
component of this larger Arab whole. Interestingly, this reality was validated
only last month when ordinary Egyptian Muslims showed up at Christmas masses or
candlelit vigils outside Egyptian churches and formed human shields against any
terrorism that might target Coptic Christians. Anba Morcos of Alexandria
commented in his sermon that he had never seen such a degree of solidarity
between Muslims and Christians and added – with some overplay – that the bombing
of the Al-Qidissein Church was like an aqua regia solution that would assay the
metal of the Egyptian people and reveal their golden nature.
Pious thoughts, perhaps, but not shared by Romel Hawal from Habbaniya in Al-Anbar
province of Iraq, who lamented the empty Mary Queen of Peace Church in his
hometown earlier this month and added, “When I come here, I feel pain. I don’t
think it will ever be back again like it was, when we had a beautiful garden.”
Yet, despite the myriad concerns over the future of Arab Christians, I remain
convinced that the majority of ordinary Arab men and women – whether Christian,
Sunni, Shia, Kurd or Druze – are inherently decent and pacific people who are
willing to co-exist with their neighbors. From where I sit in Europe, the Arab
mind has in past decades appeared captive to the psychological cost of political
or religious repression and has often succumbed to the immobilizing fear of
acting or thinking for itself. A sense of victimhood has often arrested any
forward movement within societies that have instead resorted to identifying
scapegoats to explain away their own ills or failures, or even to justify the
sheer brutality of their regimes. And one side effect of Bismarck’s divide and
rule has been to scapegoat indigenous Christians as fifth columns.
Yet, the challenges of today could be converted into the opportunities of
tomorrow. Victimhood can turn into empowerment – as we witness on some Arab
streets today. So hand-in-hand with this dismantling of antiquated precepts,
there should also be a concerted plan by local religious leaders to educate
their grassroots toward acceptance of the other – as the Iraqi Ulema Council did
recently by issuing a joint fatwa forbidding attacks against Christians. But
parallel with such a proactive attitude, the West should also realize that
supporting oppressive secular Arab systems that feed on slogans, or siding
unfailingly with an increasingly racist Israel that eats up other peoples’
rights, do not in themselves guarantee Western interests either. Rather, it is
the lack of fundamental freedoms and socio-economic justice that go hand-in-hand
with all forms of discrimination and totalitarianism, which eventually become
the surrogate wombs procreating radicalism and terror.
The topography of the region has shifted, and with that comes a whole host of
questions. Will a domino effect ensue from the events in Tunisia or Egypt that
could engulf Yemen, Sudan, Algeria or Jordan, let alone Iran, the Gulf States,
Syria or Lebanon, which all have their own fault lines? Time will tell, but the
success or failure of this long-awaited Arab renaissance – as Professor Eugene
Rogan, author of The Arabs, described it on BBC4 – will depend on whether an
enlightened and shackles-free Arab world will eventually rise again to reclaim
its rightful nahda – and whether the Christian communities would also play their
role as fully-fledged Arab citizens rather than solely as Arab Christians.
Surely the proof of this pudding will be in its eating.
Egypt’s reformer
By: Lawrence Solomon/National Post
Next to a Western leader, Hosni Mubarak has a deplorable record on human rights.
Next to just about any other Arab leader in the world today, the man is a teddy
bear.
During the Mubarak regime’s 30-year rule, Egypt has fought no war with any
neighbouring country. That isn’t the case with Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad or the Palestinians, or with important non-Arab
countries in the Middle East such as Iran. Neither did Mubarak invade
communities within his country at odds with his regime, as occurred elsewhere in
the Middle East, Turkey’s brutal suppression of the Kurds being but one example.
Throughout the Muslim Middle East, Christians under persecution have been
fleeing for decades. In some Muslim countries, the religious cleansing of
Christians is near complete. The Christian population of Syria, 33% in 1920, is
now down to 10%. Turkey’s 15% in 1920 is at 1% today. Iran’s Christian
population is at 0.4%, Gaza’s is at 0.2%. Egypt’s Coptic Christians, though they
too have been mercilessly persecuted over the decades, stand out in stark
contrast. Before Mubarak rose to power, the country’s Copts seemed destined for
a fate similar to Christians elsewhere in the Middle East, effectively barred
from so much as repairing their churches.
Mubarak, alone among Egypt’s many leaders over the last century, reversed what
had been a relentless erosion of the Copts’ rights. He allowed hundreds of
church repairs and even the construction of some new ones. He returned to the
Coptic Orthodox Church more than half of the 1,500 acres of land that the state
had seized in 1952 for the benefit of Islamic institutions and indicated an
intention to have the rest returned. He decreed that churches and mosques should
enjoy equal legal rights, and reintroduced into school curriculums the role that
Christianity had played in Egyptian history. State media not only ended
propaganda directed against Christians, it allowed live broadcasts of Easter and
Christmas services.
Most of all, and much more than any of his predecessors, he attempted to
physically protect the Copts against the continual violence that they faced from
the country’s Islamic extremists, the Muslim Brotherhood. Despite public
opposition in a country with widespread Islamic sympathies, he systematically
tracked down those who murdered Copts and punished them. A terrorist attack this
past Christmas that claimed 23 lives was the first the Copts suffered in 12
years. Little wonder that Egypt’s Christians — who number as many as 18 million
in a country of 83 million — have been all but absent in the anti-Mubarak street
demonstrations and have been praying in their churches for his continuance in
power.
Unlike Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, and Iraq, Egypt
under Mubarak has not sponsored terrorism — to the contrary, Mubarak has been a
steadfast ally in the war on terror, leading to at least six assassination
attempts on his life at the hands of Islamic extremists. Unlike the Syrians’
crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in the town of Hama in 1982, which killed
tens of thousands of civilians, many as a consequence of chemical weapons,
Mubarak cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood mostly by jailing opponents and
banning them from elections, not by wholesale slaughter of innocents.
The Arab protesters now on the streets of Cairo are calling for democracy, but
what does democracy mean in a country that has only experienced dictatorships
over its 5,000-year history? Polls of Egyptians taken by the Pew Global
Attitudes Project and WorldPublicOpinion.org at the University of Maryland
provide us with insights.
Egyptians as a whole do want democracy — polls show 59% of Egyptians view
democracy as “very good.” But in the Egyptian mind, democratic rule implies
something very different than it does to Westerners. Almost three-quarters of
Egyptians wants to see the “strict imposition of Sharia law,” more than half
want men and women segregated in the workplace, 82% want adulterers to be
stoned, 77% view whippings and cutting off of hands as proper punishment for
theft, and 84% favour the death penalty for Muslims who leave their faith. All
told, 91% of Egyptians want to keep “Western values out of Islamic countries”
(80% strongly), and 67% want “to unify all Islamic countries into a single
Islamic state or caliphate.”
The coexistence of democracy and Sharia law should come as no surprise: The
chief proponent in Egypt over the last decade advocating democracy has been, in
fact, the Muslim Brotherhood itself.
If it comes to power, this organization, which has spawned most of the world’s
Islamic terrorist groups, would bring Egypt a brand of democracy that would dash
the West’s hopes for Egypt, starting with a rollback of social reforms. Mubarak
officially banned female genital mutilation in 2007 — Egypt had had the world’s
second-highest rate at 97% — leading to an immediate drop in the rate to 91% in
just one year, according to the World Health Organization. Under the Muslim
Brotherhood, that ban would likely be reversed, as would plans to return lands
now controlled by Muslims to Christians, as would the relative tolerance shown
Christians in worship and education.
Mubarak’s economic reforms could also go by the boards. According to the
International Monetary Fund, until recently Egypt had one of the Middle East’s
fastest-growing economies, thanks to sweeping reforms that Mubarak introduced in
2004, among them slashed personal and corporate income tax rates, privatizations
that put more than half of the banking sector in private hands, reduced barriers
to trade, and improvements in corporate governance. The World Bank, as a result,
deemed Egypt the top reformer in its 2007 Doing Business report. Corruption
remains a problem in Egypt, but less so than many might believe. According to
the global Index of Economic Freedom, Egypt is no more corrupt than Argentina.
Egypt’s economy did falter recently, dropping from an impressive 7% to 8% growth
in GDP per year to 4.6% last year, and leading to the unrest on the Arab street.
This unrest, in turn, led to demands by Western leaders for Mubarak’s ouster.
The West’s leaders, ironically, will be accomplishing their goal indirectly
because Egypt’s economic woes were largely of their making: It was the global
recession, caused overwhelmingly by irresponsible Western policies, that lowered
Egypt’s growth rate and it was the West’s use of food crops for ethanol
production, in an attempt to reduce its oil dependence, that led to grain
shortages and uncontainable hardship for Egypt’s poor.
Harper on Egypt: Democracy, yes, but one
rooted in respect for rights, laws
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/harper-egypt-democracy-yes-one-rooted-respect-rights-20110204-125651-527.html
By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press
WASHINGTON - Change is clearly coming in Egypt, but it must not come at the
expense of values like human rights and the rule of law, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper said Friday as he and U.S. President Barack Obama weighed in publicly on
the 11-day-old crisis.
While Obama reiterated the U.S. position that the transition process needs to
start immediately, Harper sounded a more equivocal tone.
"I don't think there is any doubt from anyone who is watching this situation
that transition is occurring, and will occur, in Egypt; the question is what
kind of transition this will be," Harper said.
"What we want to be sure is (that) we lead to a future that is not simply more
democratic, but a future where that democracy is guided by such values as
non-violence, as the rule of law, as respect and respect for human rights —
including the rights of minorities, including the rights of religious
minorities."
Harper's comments, his first in public on the uprising since the crisis erupted
Jan. 25, came after an hour-long Oval Office meeting Friday with his American
counterpart.
The U.S., along with other major European countries, has been urging Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak to step aside immediately and allow for a transition of
power. Obama reiterated the latter part of that position Friday, but steered
clear of urging Mubarak to quit.
"In light of what's happened over the last two weeks, going back to the old ways
is not going to work," Obama said.
"In order for Egypt to have a bright future, which I believe it can have, the
only thing that will work is moving an orderly transition process that begins
right now."
Canada, meanwhile, has refrained from asking for Mubarak's ouster, speaking
instead about the need to respect human rights and a peaceful transition to
democracy.
Israeli ambassadors have reportedly been told to urge countries such as Canada
to ease off criticism of Mubarak, and express a commitment to stability in
Egypt.
That's because of threats against Israeli security in the region, including
potential Iranian nuclear capability, the increasing power of Hezbollah in
Lebanon and now the possible rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
In the past, the Conservatives have used their strong pro-Israel stance and
their support for the fight against anti-Semitism to leverage electoral and
financial support within Canada's Jewish community.
On Friday, tens of thousands of emboldened protesters packed into central Cairo,
waving flags and singing the national anthem, after repelling pro-regime
attackers in two days of bloody street fights.
Thousands, including families with children, flowed over bridges across the Nile
into Tahrir Square, a sign the movement was not intimidated after fending off
everything thrown by Mubarak supporters — storms of hurled concrete, metal rebar
and firebombs, fighters on horses and camels and barrages of automatic gunfire.
The Obama administration said it was discussing several possibilities with Cairo
— including one for Mubarak to leave office now and hand over power to a
military-backed transitional government.
Protesters in the square held up signs reading "Now!", massing around 100,000 in
the largest gathering since the quarter-million who rallied Tuesday.
They labelled Friday's rally the "day of leaving," the day they hope Mubarak
will go.
Canada's is not the only international voice urging more of a go-slow approach.
At a one-day European Union summit Friday in Brussels, leaders issued a cautious
call for dialogue and an end to the violence, ignoring calls by Britain's prime
minister to take a stronger stance against Mubarak's teetering regime.
British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that Egypt's leadership risks losing
any remaining international credibility if it uses violence on protesters on
Cairo.
The EU has been criticized for lagging behind Obama in distancing itself from
Mubarak; Cameron appeared to challenge his fellow European leaders to follow
suit.
EU leaders called on all parties to show "restraint" and said Egypt should start
its transition process "now" — a cautious statement that reflected long-standing
divisions in Europe over how to deal with the Middle East and autocrats in
allied nations.
— With files from The Associated Press
Lawmaker urges state to reverse ban on God phrases
Updated: Feb 04, 2011
FRANKFORT, KY (AP) - A lawmaker is calling for the Capitol curator to reverse
his decision barring a legislative chaplain from posting excerpts from
historical documents in a Capitol walkway because they reference God.
Republican state Sen. Jimmy Higdon of Lebanon raised the issue in a floor speech
on Feb. 4, telling his colleagues that Chaplain Lee Watts' request to display
phrases from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, even the Pledge
of Allegiance had been denied.
Watts said he had hoped to display the phrases on Tuesday when up to 500
Christian ministers are scheduled to be at the Capitol to pray for lawmakers and
to hold a rally.
Curator David Buchta said Watts' request was denied on the basis of separation
of church and state.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Christians In Egypt Look To Future With Hope and Fear
Most Support Protester's Calls for Greater Freedoms
Washington, D.C. (February 4, 2011) – International Christian Concern (ICC)
recently returned from Egypt where they met with Egyptian Christians to discuss
the mass demonstrations calling for the end of Mubarak’s 30 year reign as
president. Most Christians share the frustrations of their Muslim countrymen and
support the demonstrators for political reform, an end to police brutality, and
stagnant incomes. Concurrently, many Christians fear that the demonstrations
could lead to a power vacuum and possible takeover by the only organized,
determined, and moneyed opposition: the Muslim Brotherhood. This would, of
course, be a disaster for the Christian population.
While Coptic Pope Shenouda III vowed support to President Mubarak on Monday,
Christians vividly remember the horrific bombing outside a church in Alexandria
that killed 24 people on New Year's Eve. While the government blamed the Army of
Islam, an Al-Qaeda linked Palestinian network, many Christians believe the
attack was executed by Egyptians. Many Christians see Mubarak's accusation of
the Palestinian group as a cover to avoid addressing internal Islamic terrorism
targeting Christians.
This belief has motivated some Christians to join the protests, despite the
Coptic Pope’s declaration of support for Mubarak. "We will not stop until
Mubarak is out," said one Coptic protester. "we want a civilian constitution,
not a religious constitution any more. There is no threat that the Muslim
Brotherhood will take power. They have power in the streets, yes, but the army
won’t let them take it."
Nearly all Christians and many others live in fear. "I'm on the streets right
now on watch because we need to protect our families, our homes," the director
of an Evangelical training center told ICC. "It's really dangerous because of
those who got out of the prisons. Everybody is really praying hard for the Lord
to have mercy on the people here, because people are starving. They lack food,
money, everything. There is no money to buy food because all the banks are
closed. The situation is really tough."
Aidan Clay, the Middle East Regional Manager for ICC, said, "Christians in Egypt
are finding themselves at a crossroads. While there is little support for
President Mubarak, there is uncertainty over what an alternative government
might bring. The Muslim Brotherhood is trying to hijack the revolution and call
it their own. If the Brotherhood is able to gain the upper hand, Christians fear
that the few religious freedoms they do have will also be taken away from them.
While some Christians have a trust in the army to protect them from the
Brotherhood, others look to Turkey and how Islamic radicals have neutered the
army."
Question: "Women pastors /
preachers? What does the Bible say about women in ministry?"
GotQuestions.org
Answer: There is perhaps no more hotly debated issue in the church today than
the issue of women serving as pastors/preachers. As a result, it is very
important to not see this issue as men versus women. There are women who believe
women should not serve as pastors and that the Bible places restrictions on the
ministry of women, and there are men who believe women can serve as preachers
and that there are no restrictions on women in ministry. This is not an issue of
chauvinism or discrimination. It is an issue of biblical interpretation.
The Word of God proclaims, “A woman should learn in quietness and full
submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man;
she must be silent” (1 Timothy 2:11-12). In the church, God assigns different
roles to men and women. This is a result of the way mankind was created and the
way in which sin entered the world (1 Timothy 2:13-14). God, through the apostle
Paul, restricts women from serving in roles of teaching and/or having spiritual
authority over men. This precludes women from serving as pastors over men, which
definitely includes preaching to, teaching, and having spiritual authority.
There are many “objections” to this view of women in ministry. A common one is
that Paul restricts women from teaching because in the first century, women were
typically uneducated. However, 1 Timothy 2:11-14 nowhere mentions educational
status. If education were a qualification for ministry, the majority of Jesus'
disciples would not have been qualified. A second common objection is that Paul
only restricted the women of Ephesus from teaching (1 Timothy was written to
Timothy, who was the pastor of the church in Ephesus). The city of Ephesus was
known for its temple to Artemis, a false Greek/Roman goddess. Women were the
authority in the worship of Artemis. However, the book of 1 Timothy nowhere
mentions Artemis, nor does Paul mention Artemis worship as a reason for the
restrictions in 1 Timothy 2:11-12.
A third common objection is that Paul is only referring to husbands and wives,
not men and women in general. The Greek words in the passage could refer to
husbands and wives; however, the basic meaning of the words refers to men and
women. Further, the same Greek words are used in verses 8-10. Are only husbands
to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger and disputing (verse 8)? Are only
wives to dress modestly, have good deeds, and worship God (verses 9-10)? Of
course not. Verses 8-10 clearly refer to all men and women, not only husbands
and wives. There is nothing in the context that would indicate a switch to
husbands and wives in verses 11-14.
Yet another frequent objection to this interpretation of women in ministry is in
relation to women who held positions of leadership in the Bible, specifically
Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah in the Old Testament. This objection fails to note
some significant factors. First, Deborah was the only female judge among 13 male
judges. Huldah was the only female prophet among dozens of male prophets
mentioned in the Bible. Miriam's only connection to leadership was being the
sister of Moses and Aaron. The two most prominent women in the times of the
Kings were Athaliah and Jezebel—hardly examples of godly female leadership. Most
significantly, though, the authority of women in the Old Testament is not
relevant to the issue. The book of 1 Timothy and the other Pastoral Epistles
present a new paradigm for the church—the body of Christ—and that paradigm
involves the authority structure for the church, not for the nation of Israel or
any other Old Testament entity.
Similar arguments are made using Priscilla and Phoebe in the New Testament. In
Acts 18, Priscilla and Aquila are presented as faithful ministers for Christ.
Priscilla's name is mentioned first, perhaps indicating that she was more
“prominent” in ministry than her husband. However, Priscilla is nowhere
described as participating in a ministry activity that is in contradiction to 1
Timothy 2:11-14. Priscilla and Aquila brought Apollos into their home and they
both discipled him, explaining the Word of God to him more accurately (Acts
18:26).
In Romans 16:1, even if Phoebe is considered a “deaconess” instead of a
“servant,” that does not indicate that Phoebe was a teacher in the church. “Able
to teach” is given as a qualification for elders, but not deacons (1 Timothy
3:1-13; Titus 1:6-9). Elders/bishops/deacons are described as the “husband of
one wife,” “a man whose children believe,” and “men worthy of respect.” Clearly
the indication is that these qualifications refer to men. In addition, in 1
Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9, masculine pronouns are used exclusively to refer
to elders/bishops/deacons.
The structure of 1 Timothy 2:11-14 makes the “reason” perfectly clear. Verse 13
begins with “for” and gives the “cause” of Paul’s statement in verses 11-12. Why
should women not teach or have authority over men? Because “Adam was created
first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was
deceived.” God created Adam first and then created Eve to be a “helper” for
Adam. This order of creation has universal application in the family (Ephesians
5:22-33) and the church. The fact that Eve was deceived is also given as a
reason for women not serving as pastors or having spiritual authority over men.
This leads some to believe that women should not teach because they are more
easily deceived. That concept is debatable, but if women are more easily
deceived, why should they be allowed to teach children (who are easily deceived)
and other women (who are supposedly more easily deceived)? That is not what the
text says. Women are not to teach men or have spiritual authority over men
because Eve was deceived. As a result, God has given men the primary teaching
authority in the church.
Many women excel in gifts of hospitality, mercy, teaching, evangelism, and
helps. Much of the ministry of the local church depends on women. Women in the
church are not restricted from public praying or prophesying (1 Corinthians
11:5), only from having spiritual teaching authority over men. The Bible nowhere
restricts women from exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12).
Women, just as much as men, are called to minister to others, to demonstrate the
fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and to proclaim the gospel to the lost
(Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15).
God has ordained that only men are to serve in positions of spiritual teaching
authority in the church. This is not because men are necessarily better
teachers, or because women are inferior or less intelligent (which is not the
case). It is simply the way God designed the church to function. Men are to set
the example in spiritual leadership—in their lives and through their words.
Women are to take a less authoritative role. Women are encouraged to teach other
women (Titus 2:3-5). The Bible also does not restrict women from teaching
children. The only activity women are restricted from is teaching or having
spiritual authority over men. This logically would preclude women from serving
as pastors to men. This does not make women less important, by any means, but
rather gives them a ministry focus more in agreement with God’s plan and His
gifting of them.
Recommended Resource: Women in Ministry: Four Views by Bonnidell & Robert
Clouse, eds..
Statement by Minister of State Ablonczy on
Egypt to House of Commons
http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2011/053.aspx
(No. 53 - February 4, 2011 - 12:40 p.m. ET) The following is an edited
transcript of a statement made in the House of Commons by the Honourable Diane
Ablonczy, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs),
on the situation in Egypt. The statement was made in the House of Commons at 8
p.m. on Wednesday, February 2, 2011:
“Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague the honourable member for
Toronto Centre, the Liberal critic for foreign affairs [the Honourable Bob Rae],
who initiated this important debate in the House tonight, because the situation
in Egypt has riveted many Canadians. They are following these events closely,
and it is helpful that we in the House provide perspective and some sense of
where Canadians and Canadian legislators stand on the events that will surely
change the face of at least one very important country.
“I would like to take a different perspective on these events because I have
just recently been appointed minister of state of foreign affairs, with
particular responsibility for consular services. It may be of interest to people
following this debate if I talk about consular services. We saw in Egypt, as the
situation became more unstable, that our government, through its consular
services in Egypt ably assisted by personnel from other missions in the region,
sprang into action to support and assist Canadians who wanted to get to a safe
haven.
“I am splitting my time with the member for Newmarket–Aurora.
“To set the stage, Canadians should know that millions of other Canadians are
abroad at any given time. Canadians live, work and study in other countries.
Canadians actively travel to other countries.
“What do Canadians need to know as they travel abroad and—as we saw in recent
days—they are caught up in unanticipated events? First, we recommend that
Canadians who are travelling abroad consult the website. Foreign Affairs and
International Trade Canada puts up a website named, simply, travel.gc.ca. This
website gives advice about unexpected situations that Canadians might face in a
particular country.
“It also allows someone travelling abroad to register on a website called
Registration of Canadians Abroad. Why should anyone do that? If a person goes
missing or gets caught up in some violence and nobody knows where he or she is,
it is very hard for our consular people to make contact and give assistance. In
Egypt, we were able to call or attempt to call those who had registered, even
though communications were down, and offer services to get people to a safe
haven.
“In the case of Egypt, we had about 6,500 Canadians who were living, working or
travelling in Egypt. However, less than 1,400 were registered. Only a fraction
of people register, and it is very helpful if they do. Every minute of every
day, Foreign Affairs receives two requests for assistance at some point in the
consular service landscape.
“In 2010, over one million Canadians received some form of assistance, and in
the last five years demand for consular assistance has actually increased by 32
percent. In budget 2008, we put more resources into these services to allow us
to better support Canadians.
“These funds were partly used for the construction of a new emergency watch and
response centre. That was a new initiative. Also, my appointment and the
addition of consular duties to this particular portfolio is a new and heightened
emphasis on providing good consular services.
“There are two main categories of consular services. One is prevention and
education, and one is assistance. Of course, we hope that knowledge is power,
and if people have the knowledge they need they will not need assistance. We try
to provide people with information and advice as they travel in order to prepare
them to handle emergencies that might arise.
“Of course, people who decide to travel assume a certain risk. There are things
we can do to prepare ourselves. One is to take note of the emergency consular
telephone line. It is staffed seven days a week, 24 hours a day. That number is
613-996-8885. Through the number of calls received from Egypt, this line somehow
crashed. That helped us to realize we needed backup for the technology. We are
going to be prepared for that kind of eventuality.
“In the last few days, we have received almost 14,000 calls on the emergency
lines from people abroad wanting to know how to get assistance and perhaps get
to safe havens, as well as from families and friends in Canada wanting an update
on what was available.
“The website that I mentioned, travel.gc.ca, receives more than 12,000 visits a
day. We know that some Canadians are beginning to use it. It gives reports on
over 200 countries where Canadians might want to travel. It talks about the
security situation in the country. it provides official travel warnings advising
against travel and information on how to contact the nearest mission. It is a
good website for people to consult and register with so the government knows how
to reach people in case of an emergency. We also have some other products to
help educate Canadians, which can be found at Service Canada and other places.
“We are proud of the consular services. I visited one of our consular operations
overseas in January. One of the officers said something very interesting to me.
He said, “We do not consider what we do, helping Canadians, to be a job. We
consider it to be a calling.” They are very passionate about supporting
Canadians, and it was heartwarming.
“We have a network of these services. They provide assistance to Canadians 24/7.
We are always looking to do better, and we want to support and help Canadians,
some of whom face very distressing situations abroad, sometimes very unexpected
ones.
“The earthquake in Haiti and now the situation in Egypt are two fairly recent
examples of what can happen when people are travelling and need to reach out to
the services that are provided by the Canadian government to support and assist
them. We encourage Canadians to be informed, as prepared as they can be, and to
be alert while they are travelling. That being said, I assure everyone that when
Canadians require assistance abroad, as they have recently in Egypt, they will
receive it from this government.”
Ann Matejicka
Senior Communications Adviser
Office of the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular
Affairs)
THE U.S. IS BEHIND THE FALL OF MUBARAK
by Barry Chamish
Elad Pressman, editor of a major Israeli political website, was my guest on my
radio show and did he have news! The Daily Telegraph had dug into Wikileaks
documents and pieced together a report that convincingly proves the US was
behind the violent Egyptian protests.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289686/Egypt-protests-Americas-secret-backing-for-rebel-leaders-behind-uprising.html
The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored
summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from
Egyptian state police.
On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an
alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni
Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011. He has already been
arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his
identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph.
The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches
released by the WikiLeaks website, show American officials pressed the Egyptian
government to release other dissidents who had been detained by the police.
At least five people were killed in Cairo alone yesterday and 870 injured,
several with bullet wounds. Mohamed ElBaradei, the pro-reform leader and Nobel
Peace Prize winner, was placed under house arrest after returning to Egypt to
join the dissidents. Riots also took place in Suez, Alexandria and other major
cities across the country.
The US government has previously been a supporter of Mr Mubarak’s regime. But
the leaked documents show the extent to which America was offering support to
pro-democracy activists in Egypt while publicly praising Mr Mubarak as an
important ally in the Middle East. In a secret diplomatic dispatch, sent on
December 30 2008, Margaret Scobey, the US Ambassador to Cairo, recorded that
opposition groups had allegedly drawn up secret plans for “regime change” to
take place before elections, scheduled for September this year.
The memo, which Ambassador Scobey sent to the US Secretary of State in
Washington DC, was marked “confidential” and headed: “April 6 activist on his US
visit and regime change in Egypt.”
It said the activist claimed “several opposition forces” had “agreed to support
an unwritten plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy, involving a
weakened presidency and an empowered prime minister and parliament, before the
scheduled 2011 presidential elections”. The embassy’s source said the plan was
“so sensitive it cannot be written down”.
Ambassador Scobey questioned whether such an “unrealistic” plot could work, or
ever even existed. However, the documents showed that the activist had been
approached by US diplomats and received extensive support for his pro-democracy
campaign from officials in Washington. The embassy helped the campaigner attend
a “summit” for youth activists in New York, which was organized by the US State
Department.
Cairo embassy officials warned Washington that the activist’s identity must be
kept secret because he could face “retribution” when he returned to Egypt. He
had already allegedly been tortured for three days by Egyptian state security
after he was arrested for taking part in a protest some years earlier.
The protests in Egypt are being driven by the April 6 youth movement, a group on
Facebook that has attracted mainly young and educated members opposed to Mr
Mubarak. The group has about 70,000 members and uses social networking sites to
orchestrate protests and report on their activities. The documents released by
WikiLeaks reveal US Embassy officials were in regular contact with the activist
throughout 2008 and 2009, considering him one of their most reliable sources for
information about human rights abuses.
Elad strongly suggested that I investigate who was behind Mohammed ElBaradei.
Look what I discovered! Just a few months ago, Mohammed ElBaradei was paraded on
the front cover of the Council On Foreign Relations (CFR) rag, Foreign Affairs,
with a headline asking if he could be Egypt's savior. What uncanny foresight,
for on the second day of Egyptian protests he showed up in Cairo and was named
as the negotiator of The Muslim Brotherhood. So where did he come from? It turns
out from the board of an NGO run by CFR muckrakers George Soros and Zbigniew
Brzezinski.
Against the regime, the opposition groups - of which there are at least ten -
are just as hamstrung by their failure to produce a leader able to stand up and
challenge the president. For lack of any representative figure, they picked the
retired nuclear watchdog director Dr. Mohamed ElBaradi to speak for them in
negotiations over the transfer of power. Hardly anyone in Egypt knows him: He is
better known outside the country having spent many years abroad. Yet, at the
same time, ElBaradei sits on the board of a Soros/Brzezinski foundation.
Go to the George Soros/Zbigniew Brzezinski Crisis Groups Website and you will
see that the Egyptian clashes have hit surprisingly close to home for them.
That's because none other than their own Mohamed ElBaradei, sitting on their
board of trustees, is the self-proclaimed leader of the unrest unfolding across
the streets of Cairo. The International Crisis Group's recent condemnation of
ElBaradei's detention and admission of his membership amongst "the Group" is
accompanied by calls for the government to stop using violence against the
protesters.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/board.aspx
And then, we have The Muslim Brotherhood meeting with Obama. From the Egyptian
press: 'Obama met Muslim Brotherhood members in U.S.'
U.S. President Barack Obama met with members of Egypt's Islamist opposition
movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, earlier this year, according to a report in
Thursday editions of the Egyptian daily newspaper Almasry Alyoum. The newspaper
reported that Obama met the group's members, who reside in the U.S. and Europe,
in Washington two months ago.
As for Israel, which should be terrified of a potential Muslim Brotherhood
government, who else is pushing for one but President Shimon "Mad Dog" Peres?
Mubarak appointed Peres' buddy Omar Suleiman (search for pics of the two all
over the internet) as his Vice-President, meaning upcoming interim President
when Hosni climbs down from the post. And look who Peres got to say what Peres
can't, his rabbi and Vatican representative, David "Mad Man" Rosen:
http://euobserver.com/9/31729/?rk=1
Rabbi David Rosen, a prominent commentator on religious affairs, has said
that EU diplomats should start talking to Islamic faith leaders in Egypt in
order to keep the revolution on a peaceful path.
Yes, Israel's President thinks it would be terrific to begin negotiations with
the Muslim Brotherhood.
Israel's issues are the same as Egypt's but are hidden behind a charade of
democracy. This year's figures reveal that 25% of all Israelis, including over
850,000 children, live beneath the poverty line. The middle class has all but
disappeared at 15%, leaving a vast number of poor and unemployed to be ruled by
a tiny group of immensely wealthy oligarchs. If you thought
Cairo had a big turnout for its protests, Israel with 1/5 of Cairo's population,
drew over 200,000 to protest the Oslo "peace" and the evacuation of Gaza's
Jews...to no avail. The government had flipped the organizers with names like
Wallerstein and Leiberman and the protests were harmless steam blowing.
It's time Israel joined the Middle East. Get those 200,000 back, led by homeless
Gazan Jews and joined by all who live in daily fear of the Shabak (Secret
Service), the police, the courts and get them to the President's House to
physically oust Shimon Peres from his office.
After that, on to the Knesset.
For Rabbi Samuel Cywiak's new Holocaust memoir, Flight From Fear, just write me
or send $28 to my addresses.
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Women lead increase in UK converts to Islam
Up to 100,000 people converted to Islam in Britain, nearly two-thirds of
converts were women.
Middle East Online
White women are leading the wave of Britons embracing Islam
LONDON - The number of Muslim converts in Britain has almost doubled in ten
years with an estimated 5,200 men and women adopting Islam last year alone,
according to a study by the think tank Faith Matters.
The study found that nearly two-thirds of the converts were women and over 70
per cent were white. The average age at conversion was 27.
The report has been the culmination of 7 months of work.
The key findings of this report are:
- The current figure for converts to Islam in England and Wales could be
anything between 90,000 to 100,000 people, (based on a survey of mosques and the
2001 census figures for England and Wales and Scotland),
- That media representations of converts to Islam are negative and a survey
undertaken for this report into media representation of converts found that
60.9% of stories linked the convert to terrorism and 15% linked the convert to
fundamentalism. These negative portrayals are deeply problematic and further
paint a negative picture of a vibrant community driven by social justice,
- That the average age of conversion to Islam took place around 27 years of age,
- Of 122 respondents to a survey as part of this report, 44% converted in 2001
or before, whilst 56% converted in 2002 or later.
- At the time of conversion, converts received most help and advice from books
(96% of cases), Muslim friends (85% of cases) and the Internet (64% of cases).
52% received no help from mosques and 43% said their local mosque had no
provision for converts.
- 66% said that their family had a negative attitude to their conversion.
- 91% disagreed with the statement, "Muslims should keep themselves separate
from non-Muslims."
- 84% agreed with the suggestion that converts (especially converts from the
majority White British Ethnic Group) could act as a 'bridge' and a link between
Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
- 97% felt that some of the practices of born Muslims had more to do with
culture rather than Islam
To read the report PDF Click Here
http://faith-matters.org/images/stories/fm-reports/a-minority-within-a-minority-a-report-on-converts-to-islam-in-the-uk.pdf