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Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, Who Talks To Netanyahu ‘A Lot,’ Says His Country Is In Danger of Collapse By Lally Weymouth March 12 Since the army took power from Mohamed Morsi in 2013 with popular support, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi says he’s been fighting to keep the forces of anarchy at bay. On the eve of a large investment conference this weekend, he invited The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth to the massive white presidential palace for a conversation about Egypt’s problematic relationship with Washington, how to defeat the Islamic State, and his fears and hopes for his country....

Military pressure may be needed to oust Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Saudi Arabia on Thursday. SNIP--- "Ultimately a combination of diplomacy and pressure will be needed to bring about a political transition. Military pressure particularly may be necessary given President Assad's reluctance to negotiate seriously."

New York (AFP) - CIA Director John Brennan said the United States does not want to see a chaotic collapse of the Syrian regime as it could open the way to Islamist extremists taking power. The spy agency chief said Washington had reason to worry about who might replace President Bashar al-Assad if his government fell, given the rise of the Islamic State group and other jihadists in Syria. "I think that's a legitimate concern," Brennan said when asked if the US government feared who might succeed Assad. Speaking at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations, he said...

White House Warns Europe On Greek Showdown Washington blames Europe for the lack of global recovery and is losing its patience with EMU creditor states that fail to pull their weight By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 13 Feb 2015 The Obama administration has leapt to the defence of Greece, warning Germany and Europe’s creditor powers that they must meet Athens half-way to avert a potentially dangerous rupture and a euro break-up. Caroline Atkinson, the US deputy-national security adviser, said the eurozone authorities had imposed the main burden of adjustment on the weaker deficit states and should do more to accept their share...

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II on the sidelines of economic talks in Egypt on Friday, US officials said. The talks are likely to focus on the economic crisis facing the Palestinian Authority and could be a four-way meeting which would also include Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a State Department official said. "We continue to be concerned about the PA," the official told reporters travelling with Kerry on his plane to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. "It’s really part of the continuous, ongoing conversation we’re...

Saudi ArabiaÂ’s Attempt To Create A Sunni Alliance Against Iran Will Fail And Mecca The Pride Of The Muslims Will Be Destroyed By The Muslims Themselves! By Shoebat Foundation on March 11, 2015in Featured, General By Walid Shoebat (Shoebat Exclusive) In the Middle East, everything could turn on a dime. Who would have imagined that powers such as Turkey and Iran, which both recognized Israel soon after it declared independence in 1948 would become now two of its arch enemies, while Arab states who were IsraelÂ’s arch enemies have come to realize that Israel is no longer their primary concern,...

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, appealed to the U.S. to play a greater role in helping his country fight terrorism -- as he urged the creation of an "Arab ready force" to confront the Islamic State and similar groups. The Egyptian leader spoke with Fox News' Bret Baier in an extensive interview conducted in Cairo. He addressed the need for what he called a religious "revolution," urging moderate Muslims around the world to "stand up" against terrorists twisting their religion. But in the short term, he said more military might and funding will...

On Tuesday, a man convicted of blinding another man in an acid attack was himself forcibly blinded in one eye, according to Amnesty International and Tasnim News, a semi-official news website. The punishment is believed to be Iran's first case of Qasas, meaning retribution in kind, Tasnim News said. Amnesty International denounced the sentence. "This punishment exposes the utter brutality of Iran's justice system and underlines the Iranian authorities' shocking disregard for basic humanity," said Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International's Iran researcher. "Meting out cruel and inhuman retribution punishments is not justice. Blinding, like stoning, amputation and flogging, is a form...

Following are excerpts from a show featuring Egyptian Salafi sheikh Murgan Salem; the show aired on Dream 2 TV, on November 10 and 13, 2012.Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV. "Jews, Christians, And Zoroastrians Are Welcome To Live In The Abode Of Islam, As Long As They Pay The Jizya" Murgan Salem: "They must pay the jizya poll tax. They cannot be exempted."TV host Wael Al-Abrashi: "You mean the Christians...?"Murgan Salem: "I'll tell you, just bear with me. Yes, this should be one of the sources of income of the state. The Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians are welcome...

WASHINGTON — President Obama said that he and other world leaders have offered Iran an “extraordinarily reasonable deal” that will test whether the leadership of the Islamic nation is serious about at last resolving the dispute over its nuclear program. Even as negotiators appear close to an agreement, Mr. Obama highlighted the challenge of what comes next: ensuring that any pact forged in Geneva can pass muster in Tehran, where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has expressed deep skepticism about a settlement with the outside world. “We have made progress in narrowing the gaps, but those gaps still exist,”...

President Barack Obama says the United States would “walk away” from nuclear talks with Iran if there’s no acceptable deal. Obama says any agreement must allow Western powers to verify that Tehran isn’t going to obtain an atomic weapon, and that even if Iran “cheated,” the U.S. and others would have “enough time to take action.” The president tells CBS that “if we don't have that kind of deal, then we’re not going to take it.” …

Germany has rejected a definition of anti-Semitism that labels the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) as anti-Semitic. Responding to a legislative questionnaire released Thursday by leading Green Party MP Volker Beck, the Merkel administration wrote that “there does not exist a general academic definition” of anti-Semitism. Beck, who heads the German- Israel parliamentary group in the Bundestag, sharply criticized the Merkel administration: “Here the federal government has cowered,” he said. “There is no doubt of the anti-Semitic motivation within the spectrum of the BDS campaign. BDS aims essentially against Jewish Israelis and is therefore anti-Semitic. Whoever aggressively boycotts Israeli...

Members of Eli Yishai’s Yachad—Ha’am Itanu party and Baruch Marzel with members of his Otzma Yehudit party took a tour of southern Tel Aviv on Sunday, where they surveyed how the massive influx of illegal immigrants from Africa has impacted the neighborhood, which suffers drastically raised crime levels. During the visit, which was guided by Otzma Yehudit member May Golan, who is chairperson of the “Hebrew City” movement and a longtime champion of Jewish rights in the area afflicted by infiltrator settlement, the group came across infiltrators who openly said they were in Israel illegally and were unapologetic about it....

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel will not cede territory due to the current climate in the Middle East, appearing to rule out the establishment of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu's comments, which came as he sought to appeal to hard-liners ahead of national elections next week, rejected a key goal of the international community and bode poorly for future peace efforts if he is re-elected.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met Sunday with former Lebanese Prime Minister and the Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri in Cairo, discussing what they called Iranian “interference” in the region as well as other international and regional issues. Following the meeting, Hariri told media reporters that they tackled the Iranian “intervention” in the region, Veto gate reported Sunday. Iranian- led Shiite militia ( from Iran and Iraq) and Iraq army troops battled against the Sunni Islamic State (IS) group in outskirt of Tikrit city in Iraq in the past few days, a development that has stirred worries of Gulf...

Harvard officials say they have notified members of the university community that an unidentified man came to the Kennedy School of Government on Tuesday who said he was soliciting donations for a charity connected to the Islamic State militant group. “At this time there does not appear to be a threat to the community, but we felt that it was important to notify members of our community. We have also notified the Harvard University Police Department,” the university said Friday in an e-mailed statement. “He has not been seen on the campus since that time,” the

CAIRO, Mar 8 (Aswat Masriya) - Cairo's criminal court postponed the trial of ousted president Mohamed Mursi for charges of spying for Qatar. The next session will be held tomorrow and will be a secret session. Mursi, who was ousted in July 2013, stands trial alongside 10 others, including two of his aides over accusations of leaking classified national intelligence to the Qatari intelligence. This trial started last month, with Mursi saying in the first hearing that he was brought to court "forcibly". Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat accused Mursi and his two aides, head of his presidential office Ahmed Abdel...

A U.S. citizen detained in Egypt for violating curfew in August was found dead Sunday in his jail cell, the second foreigner to die in detention in recent weeks. ... Security officials identified the man as James Henry, 66, a retired U.S. Army officer who arrived in Cairo from the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain on Aug. 25. Henry was detained by army troops in the turbulent region of northern Sinai three days later while making his way to the border crossing with Gaza in the town of Rafah

The general feeling in Cairo and other Arab capitals is that the US and the Western world are not serious when it comes to confronting the threat of Iran, the Islamic State or other terrorist groups in the Middle East. Thanks to President Sisi's new and bold approach, there is a real chance that Arabs will lead the fight against extremists and terrorists. This is a development that should be welcomed and backed by the US and the rest of the international community. "The conference [on Countering Violent Extremism, in Washington] did not give birth to a global strategy on...

Egypt's FM hits back at UN middle east envoy in Gaza row Egyptian foreign ministry condemns statement made by UN middle east envoy Robert Serry over 'failed policies' Ahram Online , Tuesday 3 Mar 2015 http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/124408/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-FM-hits-back-at-UN-middle-east-envoy-in-Gaz.aspx Egypt’s foreign ministry denounced on Tuesday a statement made by the United Nations' envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry concerning the ongoing crisis in Gaza; saying that he is “blaming others for his failure to achieve his mission in the Gaza strip.” The foreign ministry's statement condemned Serry’s inability to negotiate with Israeli officials, as they have been the occupying power in the...