Saudi vows new Islamic alliance ‘will wipe terrorists from the earth’

Lowe and behold the ‘islamic NATO’ discussed in the previous posts:

Is Saudi Arabia building an ‘islamic NATO?’

Trump to unveil plans for an ‘Arab NATO’ in Saudi Arabia

 

A member of the Saudi Royal Guard stands on duty inside the hall where the first meeting of the defence ministers of the 41-member Saudi-led Muslim counter-terrorism alliance is taking place in the capital Riyadh on November 26, 2017 (AFP Photo/Fayez Nureldine)

 

Riyadh (AFP) – Saudi Arabia’s crown prince vowed to “pursue terrorists until they are wiped from the face of the earth” as officials from 40 Muslim countries gathered Sunday in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance.

“In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries… with no coordination” among national authorities, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defence minister, said in his keynote address to the gathering in Riyadh.

“This ends today, with this alliance.”

World Leaders Gather in Beijing While the US Sinks into Irrelevancy

The United States is fractured and permanently scarred with very little diplomatic room to maneuver, and as the article states, doesn’t even know it. We’re looking at a new world shaping up within the next 10 years… a new world without the United States having a voice in its affairs. This is an unprecedented new chapter in world history that the old order doesn’t recover from. If you’re an American, get used to second or third-rate living standards and all the problems that come with it.

To add clarification: President Trump has a great chance in saving America from ruin, and let’s hope he will. Where he has almost zero chance is in saving it’s standing in the world. An alternative world structure has already been built and members are being filtered in. The ‘on button’ is waiting to be pushed. All that needs to happen is an event, such as global economic collapse, that sets America back and simultaneously provides the new world structure a window of opportunity to spring into first place.

 

 

While vaudevillian comedy-like shouting matches broke out in the West Wing of the White House between President Donald Trump and his senior advisers and between the White House press secretary and various presidential aides, world leaders gathered in Beijing to discuss the creation of modern-day land and maritime «silk roads» to improve the economic conditions of nations around the world. Nothing more could have illustrated the massive divide between the concerns of many of the nations of the world and those of the United States, which is rapidly descending into second-rate power status, along with its NATO allies Britain, France, and Germany.

Has the Pope Abandoned Europe to Islam?

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI (left) said what no Pope had ever dared to say — that there is a link between violence and Islam. Ten years later, Pope Francis (right) never calls those responsible for anti-Christian violence by name and never mentions the word “Islam.” (Image source: Benedict: Flickr/Catholic Church of England | Francis: Wikimedia Commons/korea.net)

 

 

• In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI said what no Pope had ever dared to say — that there is a link between violence and Islam. Ten years later, Pope Francis never calls those responsible for anti-Christian violence by name and never mentions the word “Islam.”
• Pope Francis does not even try to re-evangeize or reconquer Europe. He seems deeply to believe that the future of Christianity is in the Philippines, in Brazil and in Africa. Probably for the same reason, the Pope is spending less time and effort in denouncing the terrible fate of Christians in the Middle East.
• “Multiculturalism” in Europe is the mosque standing on the ruins of the church. It is not the synthesis requested by Pope Francis. It is the road to becoming extinct.
• Asking Europe to be “multicultural” while it experiences a dramatic de-Christianization is extremely risky. In Germany, a new report found that “Germany has become demographically a multi-religious country.” In the UK, a major inquiry recently declared that “Britain is no longer a Christian country.” In France, Islam is also overtaking Christianity as the dominant religion.

To scroll the list of Pope Francis’s apostolic trips — Brazil, South Korea, Albania, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Cuba, United States, Mexico, Kenya, Uganda, Philippines — one could say that Europe is not exactly at the top of his agenda.

Christians Burn While Pope Worries about “Worldly” Matters

• Although the Egyptian constitution stipulates equality before the law, the judiciary refuses the testimony of Christians against Muslims in courts. Islamic law maintains that the testimony of an “infidel” cannot be accepted against a Muslim.
• Al Azhar University in Egypt continues to incite Egypt’s Muslims against Christians. Most recently, the university was exposed distributing a free booklet dedicated to discrediting Christianity. It is full of direct attacks on Christianity in general and the nation’s Coptic Christians in particular. Islam is hailed as the true and superior religion. No mention of violent Islamic conquests is made.
• More than 200 girls, mostly Christian, remain missing in Nigeria after Boko Haram kidnapped them in 2014. Escapees testify that some were told to slit the throats of Christians and to carry out suicide attacks. Girls who cannot recite the Koran are flogged.
• The “lawyers” of a Christian man imprisoned in Pakistan on the charge of desecrating the Koran last May are actually working against him. Faisal’s lawyers officially canceled the request for bail, previously submitted by other lawyers.
• Christians and others in the southern Philippines say they fear that legislation meant to create an Islamic sub-state — legislation meant to appease Islamists — will only create more extremism against Christians. Critics say it would render the federal government powerless to redress human rights abuses under Islamic law. In some areas, violence has been increasing, including trademark Islamic attacks on churches and nuns.

In June, Pope Francis released his first independent encyclical. It merely served to highlight the indifference to the plight of persecuted Christians around the world.

The Pope warned about issues dealing with the environment, but he did not once mention the plight of persecuted Christians — even though he is well acquainted with it, and even though previous popes mentioned it when Christians were experiencing far less persecution than they are today.

Encyclicals are formal treatises written by popes and sent to bishops around the world. In turn, bishops are meant to disseminate the encyclical’s ideas to all the priests and churches in their jurisdiction, so that the pope’s thoughts might reach every church-attending Catholic.

An Important Trend to Watch as Assad’s Rule Weakens in Syria

Syria’s dictator is under siege and could fall. Who stands most to benefit?

Since inheriting his father’s 30-year old rule of Syria in 2000, President Bashar Assad has maintained a strong grip on power. But things have changed since the Arab Spring and the consequent civil war in his country.

Syria’s civil war has raged for over four years now, and the country is engulfed in suffering. More than 200,000 people have been killed, according to the United Nations. Tallying up the dead got so bad that in 2013, an exasperated UN momentarily gave up counting. Nearly 8 million people have been displaced from their homes. Four million have fled to other countries.

German leader urges E. Africa to copy EU integration

German President Joachim Gauck on Thursday urged East African countries not to be discouraged by setbacks and criticisms in their ongoing East African Community (EAC) integration process.

“EAC partner states should borrow a leaf from the European Union’s book,” President Gauck told members of the EAC secretariat and the East African Legislative Assembly, the EAC’s legislative arm.

Risk of war as new Nile treaty delays

Countries that share the Nile waters on Monday warned that the region could go to war unless a new treaty on the use of the Nile waters is drawn up.

Nile Basin countries have increased pressure on Egypt to get back to the negotiating table for discussions on how the waters of the world’s longest river can be used.

On Monday, participants gathered at Nairobi’s InterContinental Hotel for the Fourth Nile Basin Development Forum warned the region might face conflicts over water in future if a new agreement is not reached.

More engaged Germany preparing to send troops to Somalia

(Reuters) – Germany is preparing to contribute troops to a European Union training mission in Mogadishu, less than a year after security concerns led Berlin to abandon a similar training operation when it relocated from Uganda to the Somali capital.

A foreign office spokesman said on Monday the decision to pull out had been taken by the previous government, but the situation in Somalia had since improved and Germany’s new government, a coalition of Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD), was considering joining.

Official: U.S. airstrike in Somalia targets suspected militant leader

Events like this of late seem to occur when the national attention is elsewhere. In light of this, it shouldn’t be surprising if a nation takes advantage of the Sochi Winter Olympics as a distraction, as Putin did with his invasion of Georgia under the cover of the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

While you were distracted with the Grammys:

(CNN) — The U.S. military conducted an airstrike in southern Somalia on Sunday against a suspected militant leader, a U.S. military official told CNN.

The target was described by the official as a “senior leader” affiliated with al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia.

The United States has not yet been able to determine whether the target was killed, the official said.