THREAT MATRIX 2012 #1

Morsi's Maneuver by Andrew McCarthy

I disagree with McCarthy on one point. He repeatedly credits the BHO Adm with naive and willful ignorance of the true nature and goals of the MB, while I think it can be proved (and will be) that the BHO Adm acted with premeditated calculation, from the very beginning (Cairo speech), to engineer the ME uprisings for the very purpose of installing the MB (accompanied by its more insidious and violently deranged spawns), knowing full well the MB's Caliphate goals of Islamist subjugation and sharia.

Excellent article by McCarthy (Cliff notes below).

With the trillion-plus dollars U.S. taxpayers have expended to promote “Islamic democracy” and its companion fantasy that elections equal democracy...In effect, Morsi has used the West’s democracy fetish to put a gun to his population’s head: Either democratically approve anti-democratic sharia or accept the sharia-compliant rule of your democratically elected Islamist despot. Some choice....

While Morsi basks in the spotlight, you should know that Shater [Khairat al_Shater] is the power behind the throne because he is the avatar of sharia. He is the author of the Brotherhood’s announced “Islamic Renaissance” plan, which the Western media continue to ignore. As Spring Fever recounts, however, here is how Shater proclaimed the Brotherhood’s objective in April 2011, right after the Islamist victory in the amendments referendum:

You all know that our main and overall mission as Muslim Brothers is to empower God’s religion on earth, to organize our life and the lives of the people on the basis of Islam, to establish the Nahda [i.e., the Renaissance] of the ummah [i.e., the notional global Muslim nation] and its civilization on the basis of Islam, and to subjugate people to God on earth.

Morsi was a constant presence at his side, introduced at rallies as an “architect” of Shater’s “Renaissance” plan. His principal task as president has been to get a new sharia constitution across the finish line. That is why he claimed dictatorial powers last week: not to aggrandize himself further but to shield the constituent assembly from being de-commissioned by judges.

Sure, it provides that “principles of sharia” are the main source of legislation, but that, the report crowed, is the same thing the Mubarak-era constitution said — the Islamists did not alter it. You are supposed to conclude from this that “principles of sharia” are not as repressive as plain old “sharia” (the formulation preferred by Salafists) would have been.

Yet, the new constitution actually goes much farther. Not only does it add provisions that make clear “principles of sharia” means “sharia”; it also installs the scholars of al-Azhar University as official expert consultants on all sharia-related matters — a longtime Morsi goal. Egypt thus becomes the Sunni version of Iran’s totalitarian regime, in which Shiite mullahs exercise ultimate authority.

And how exactly is sharia interpreted by the scholars of al-Azhar, whose alumni include such jihadist eminences as Sheikh Qaradawi and the Blind Sheikh? Not to wear you out with Spring Fever [The Illusion of Islamic Democracy], but as it outlines (with citations to the Azhar-approved, Brotherhood-certified sharia manual, Reliance of the Traveller), they interpret it to call for:

* death to apostates from Islam;
* “charitable” contributions to those fighting jihad (expressly defined as “war against non-Muslims”);
* discrimination against women;
* discrimination against non-Muslims;
* death to homosexuals;
* death to those who spy against Muslims;
* death by stoning for adulterers; and so on.

Recent related threads:

Egypt's top court suspends work in protest

Obama Administration Silent After Egyptian Constitution Restores Slavery

Remembering Some of Those Who Said the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt Wasn't a Threat to Democracy

Muslim Brotherhood ‘paying gangs to go out and rape women and beat men protesting in Egypt

Report: Russian Arms Syria with Supersonic [Iskander] Missiles

Mon, December 10, 2012
by: Reza Kahlili

Hours after NATO agreed on Tuesday to send Patriot missiles to Turkey because of the crisis in Syria, Russia delivered its first shipment of Iskander missiles to Syria.

The superior Iskander can travel at hypersonic speed of over 1.3 miles per second (Mach 6-7) and has a range of over 280 miles with pinpoint accuracy of destroying targets with its 1,500-pound warhead, a nightmare for any missile defense system.

According to Mashregh, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard media outlet, Russia had warned Turkey not to escalate the situation, but with Turkey’s request for Patriot missiles, it delivered its first shipment of Iskanders to Syria.

Reporting today, Mashregh said the handover occurred when Russian naval logistic vessels docked at Tartus in Syria.

The Iskandar is a surface-to-surface missile that no missile defense system can trace or destroy, Mashregh said. Russia had earlier threatened that should America put its missile defense system in Poland, it would retaliate by placing its Iskander missiles at Kaliningrad, its Baltic Sea port.

Russia’s delivery of Iskanders to Bashar Assad’s embattled regime clearly shows that the security and stability of Syria remains Russia’s red line, Mashregh said. It is unknown how many of these missiles have been delivered but the numbers given are sufficient to destroy any Patriot missiles in Turkey, it said.

The delivery of the missile not only threatens the security of Turkey but also Israel, which would have to recalculate its strategy with its defensive and offensive capabilities.

http://www.radicalislam.org/analysis/report-russian-arms-syria-supersonic-missiles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Same topic [Iskander missiles] also covered in this thread:

Russia Arms Syria With Powerful Ballistic Missiles
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2966842/posts

Also covered in last 10 minutes in this 12-10-12 interview with Kahili by John Bachelor.
http://wabcradio.com/getpodcast.aspx?sid=33447&lid=5145&id=2591022&source=1&url=http://podloc.andomedia.com/dloadTrack.mp3?prm=10803xhttp://podfuse-dl.andomedia.com/800185/podfuse-origin.andomedia.com/citadel_origin/pods/WABC/WABC-Batchelor/jbs_121012c.mp3

Iskander deal also mentioned in this article from Oct 4, 2011:

‘NATO troops prepping for war’: Syrian warns attack will set Middle East on flames.
http://kleinonline.wnd.com/2011/10/04/%E2%80%98nato-troops-prepping-for-war%E2%80%99-syrian-warns-attack-will-set-middle-east-on-flames/

Blasphemy and Islam - Our fundamental rights are under attack

National Review Online ^ | December 15, 2012 | Andrew C. McCarthy

Posted on 12/16/2012 1:18:03 PM PST by neverdem

In Cairo on Wednesday, a Coptic Christian blogger named Alber Saber was convicted of blasphemy and “contempt of religion.” There’s a tragic irony: As any of the country’s Christians can tell you, contempt of religion is not merely permitted but encouraged in the new, post-Mubarak Egypt. What is criminal, what has become increasingly perilous, is any criticism of Islam.

Nor is truth a defense. Another Egyptian court recently upheld the blasphemy conviction of Makarem Diab, also a Coptic Christian. Diab had gotten into a discussion with a Muslim acquaintance, Abd al-Hameed, who, in the course of mocking Diab’s faith, insisted that Jesus was a serial fornicator. Diab countered Hameed’s baseless taunt with an assertion most Islamic scholars regard as accurate: namely, that Mohammed had more than four wives. Yet, because the context of Diab’s assertion evinced an intention to cast Islam’s prophet in an unfavorable light, Diab was prosecuted for “insulting the prophet” and “provoking students.” He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.

This is now everyday life in Egypt. It is also certain to be the future of Egypt. The overwhelmingly Islamist population, having first elected Islamic supremacists led by the Muslim Brotherhood to top leadership positions, is now poised to adopt a constitution that is founded on sharia, Islam’s totalitarian legal framework, and that expressly enshrines these blasphemy standards. But the problem is not just sharia in Egypt. Sharia is here.

About three weeks ago, another Egyptian court sentenced seven people to death after convicting them in absentia on blasphemy charges. Most of the seven are in the United States. Most of them are Coptic Christians; one is a Florida-based pastor who is a blistering critic of Islamic scripture. The charges relate to the defendants’ alleged involvement in “Innocence of Muslims,” an obscure amateur video that Islamists have frivolously cited as a pretext for their latest round of international mayhem — and that the Obama administration has fraudulently portrayed as the catalyst of a massacre in Benghazi in which jihadists killed four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya.

So how has President Obama responded to the Egyptian government’s human-rights violations, its failure to protect the Copts from persecution (indeed, its willing participation in that persecution), and its provocations against Americans — which now include ordering their killing, through a kangaroo-court process that flouts our due-process standards, over their engagement in activity that is expressly protected by our Constitution?

Well . . . the president has announced that not only will he continue funding Egypt’s Islamist government, but he intends to include in that U.S. aid the provision of 20 F-16 fighter jets. Moreover, Obama is continuing his administration’s collaboration with the 57-government Organization of Islamic Cooperation on the “Istanbul Process.” That is the OIC’s campaign to impose sharia’s repressive blasphemy standards.

The most recent aggression in this blasphemy enterprise — a years-long, carefully plotted OIC campaign to snuff out American free-speech rights under the guise of “defamation of religion” — is U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18. It calls on Western governments to outlaw “any advocacy of religious hatred against individuals that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has zealously colluded with the OIC in seeking the implementation of 16/18. Notwithstanding her contortions, it is a gross violation of the First Amendment. Our law permits the criminalization of incitement to violence only when an agitator willfully calls for violence. Our Constitution does not abide what the resolution is designed to achieve: the heckler’s veto and, worse, the suppression of speech predicated on mob intimidation — the legitimation of barbaric lawlessness.

Nor does the Constitution’s guarantee of free expression tolerate the outlawing of speech that prompts discrimination, much less hostility. And contrary to administration hairsplitting, it makes no difference that the resolution would not “criminalize” expression that prompts discrimination or hostility. To quote the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law” suppressing protected speech. It does not say “Congress shall make no criminal law.” No law means no law — no civil law, rule, regulation, guideline, etc.

As the framers understood, virtually everything we actually need a government for can be handled — more responsively and thus more responsibly — at the local and state level. There is one essential reason for having a federal government, and one principal reason for the creation of the office of President of the United States: to protect our citizens in the exercise of their fundamental rights from hostile foreign forces.

Our fundamental rights are now under attack. As far as that is concerned, it is of little moment that the Egyptian government, joined by its Islamist confederates, threatens our lives and our liberties through court orders and resolutions — through lawfare rather than violent jihad. We are every bit as much under siege.

What is of great moment is that the president has joined the hostile forces against us, against Americans whose protection is the sole reason for the federal government’s existence.

If that is to be Washington’s posture, what do we need it for? It is bad enough when Leviathan cannot tell America’s friends from America’s enemies. But what is the point of a federal government that cannot tell America’s enemies from America? Or that can tell perfectly well, but chooses to fight for the wrong side?

— Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and the executive director of the Philadelphia Freedom Center. He is the author, most recently, of Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy, which was published by Encounter Books.

Thanks for the ping thouwom.

Netherlands 'halal homes' ignite religious row

Snip: Renovations in Amsterdam apartments - nicknamed "halal homes" in the press - have sparked a political row in the Netherlands.

About 180 apartments in Amsterdam have been given special makeovers which suit the wishes of Muslim residents. Features include individual taps that can be used for ritual cleansing before prayers and sliding doors to keep men and women apart.

Costa Rica bans all hunting

Snip: Twenty-five percent of the country is already set aside as national parks or reserves, but "hunting tours" for tourists threatened the biodiverse ecosystem. Under the new law, anyone caught hunting will be subject to up to four months in prison or a $3,000 fine. There will be smaller penalities for people caught poaching wild animals or keeping them as pets.

France - a haven for genocide fugitives?

Snip: In September, 1994, Munyeshyaka escaped from Rwanda, with the help of the French Catholic Church. He had allegedly helped desecrate the Sainte-Famille parish in Kigali where survivors accuse him of torture, rape, and other crimes against humanity, during the Genocide. In 2006, a court in Kigali sentenced him, in absentia, to life imprisonment but he continues to roam free in the southern French village of Bourg-St-Andeol. In 1995, survivors lodged a complaint against him; French authorities arrested him on Genocide charges, but the charges were immediately dropped, and he was released.

Guinea to give government employees 50 percent pay rise

Snip: The government of Guinea reached an agreement with trade unions on Friday to grant state employees a 50 percent salary increase, ending a four-month stand-off, according to the text of the deal read on state television.

Los Zetas controlling migrant workers and drug smuggling routes to USA

One of Mexico’s most powerful criminal gangs has muscled into the migrant-smuggling racket, changing what had been a relatively benign if risky industry of independent operators into a centralized business that often has deadly consequences for those who try to operate outside it.

Los Zetas, who earned a reputation for brutality by gunning down thousands of Mexicans in the ongoing battle for drug-smuggling routes to the United States, now control much of the illicit trade of moving migrant workers toward the U.S. border, experts in the trade say.

They’ve brought logistical know-how, using tractor-trailer trucks to carry ever larger loads of people and charging higher prices, as much as $30,000 per head for migrants from Asia and Africa who seek to get to the United States.

They’ve also brought an unprecedented level of intimidation and violence to the trade. Los Zetas or their allies often kidnap and hold for ransom poor migrants who try to operate outside the system. If relatives don’t wire payment, the migrants sometimes are executed and dumped in mass graves or press-ganged into jobs with the criminal group.

[snip]

"...said Los Zetas had been merciless with migrants.

“Los Zetas control the trafficking of persons,” he said. “They are crueler and kill more easily. . . . They are voracious. They ask for more and more and more money.”

http://usopenborders.com/2011/11/los-zetas-contolling-migrant-workers-and-drug-smuggling-routes-to-usa/

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