Headlines:
- Australian Priest claims Islam is a Cancer that will Destroy Society
- Crackdown on Online Criticism Chills Pakistani Social Media
- Saudi Arabia says King’s Contact with U.S. Helped Ease Al-Aqsa Mosque Tensions
- Lahore Bombing- Pakistan’s Domestic Policy Failings
- Saudi Slashes Exports to Rescue Economy
- French Power
Australian Priest claims Islam is a Cancer that will Destroy Society
A Baptist pastor who claimed Islam is ‘a cancer that will destroy society’ during a recorded sermon has come under fire. Footage of Keith Piper, pastor for Liberty Baptist Church in north-west of Sydney, has been submitted to the education department after it was revealed the church provides scripture to government schools. Liberty Baptist Church provides scripture lessons for special religion education (SRE) – an optional 30-minute weekly class offered to students by government schools when a teacher is available. In the 40-minute video, which was recorded in April 2016 and uploaded to YouTube, Mr Piper repeatedly condemned Islam and the Koran. ‘Islamism is a cancer. We must destroy the cancer or the cancer will destroy our society and our freedoms and everything we hold dear,’ he tells the crowd. ‘Islam and Koran-practising Muslims are culturally incompatible with western and Christian values.’ Mr Piper went on to claim he is ‘not anti-Muslim’ but is ‘anti-Koran.’ Darrin Morgan, the NSW director of Fairness in Religion in Schools, brought Mr Piper’s comments to the attention of the education department, claiming Liberty Baptist Church’s approval as an SRE provider goes against the department’s policies. ‘We are concerned that the current provisions for SRE… greatly increase this risk by enabling organisations such as Liberty Baptist Church to authorise their own curricula over which your office has no control or authority,’ Mr Morgan wrote to Education Minister Rob Stokes, according to The Guardian. Previously Mr Piper told SBS he had not taught religious classes since 2005 when he was working at Macarthur Girls High School in west Sydney. The pastor said members of his congregation that did teach at public schools, including his wife, did not talk about Islam during SRE classes. ‘What I talk about in my personal life is not necessarily what they will be teaching in scripture,’ he said. [Source: Daily Mail]
Piper belongs to a growing breed of Western secular fanatics that openly espouse the moral superiority of Western values over Islam. The Western media gives them additional coverage, which fuels Islamophobia in western countries and supports the policy of subjugating Muslim communities…
Saudi Arabia says King’s Contact with U.S. Helped Ease Al-Aqsa Mosque Tensions
Saudi Arabia said on Thursday King Salman had been in contact with the United States and other world powers to try to prevent Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City being closed to Muslims and to defuse political and religious tensions. The Jewish state overnight removed all security infrastructure it had put in place this month at Muslim entrances to the al-Aqsa mosque compound and on Thursday Muslim elders urged worshippers to return there to pray. “The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, has held contacts with many world leaders over the past few days,” the announcement from the Saudi royal court, published by state news agency SPA, said. Saudi Arabia is custodian of Islam’s most revered places in Mecca and Medina while Jordan is the custodian of Al-Aqsa mosque, its third holiest site, which is also revered by Jews. King Salman contacted the U.S. government and called for an end to restrictions on entry to the mosque, the statement said, saying that developments showed this push had been successful. The king “stressed the need for the return of calm,” and called for respect for the sanctity of the compound, it said. [Source: Reuters]
Is this the best King Salman could do? Where is the billions of dollars of military hardware that the Saudi family has bought? What can one expect from a regime that openly spills Muslim blood in Yemen and Syria? The only solution to the Palestinian question is the re-establishment of the rightly guided Khilafah (Caliphate), which will liberate all Muslim lands from the oppression of the western powers and their agent rulers.
Crackdown on Online Criticism Chills Pakistani Social Media
Dr. Faisal Ranjha was examining a patient in the crowded critical-care unit of his hospital in northeastern Pakistan when a federal officer abruptly walked in, seized his cellphone and told him he was under arrest. Officers took him home to scoop up his laptop and the tablet computer on which his 8-year-old son was playing games, then drove the doctor more than 150 miles to the Federal Investigation Agency headquarters in Islamabad. Only then was he told why: He stood accused of leading an anti-army information campaign on Twitter. Dr. Ranjha is one of dozens of people arrested and investigated since January for their social media use, under the sweeping cybercrimes law passed by Parliament last year. The law, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, was widely promoted as a tool to punish internet activity by banned militant groups and curb online sexual harassment. But in recent months it has increasingly been used to crack down on those who have gone online with criticism of the government and, particularly, the military. Civil rights advocates, as well as people directly targeted by the authorities, have described actions that included harassment, intimidation, and detention without access to lawyers or family members. In a few cases, physical abuse of those in custody was reported. More subtly, the campaign has also injected a distinct chill into a Pakistani social media scene long known for boldness and rollicking satire. “Many journalists and activists — especially young people who ask important questions or say critical things on Facebook or Twitter — they are going quiet, thinking they can be arrested, or worse,” said Shahzad Ahmad, a director of Bytes for All Pakistan. The group campaigns for internet freedom and has gone to court several times seeking to lift government restrictions in Pakistan. The internet crackdown is happening while the country’s military establishment has been exerting its influence more broadly over media outlets, the courts and politics, even as it has enjoyed widespread popularity with the public. Now, the military seems to feel increasingly empowered to root out even small-scale criticism. [Source: New York Times]
Pakistan is a police state where people routinely go missing, are murdered in extra judicial killings, and are handed over to America like Afia Siddiqui. Hence, the current arrests are not surprising at all, and demonstrates the power of the army behind the scenes, which other institutions like the judiciary, media, civic society and the people have failed to curb.
Lahore Bombing- Pakistan’s Domestic Policy Failings
At least 25 were killed and scores were wounded in a suicide attack claimed by the Taliban targeting police in the eastern city. The attack targeted police assisting in a drive to clear the Ferozepur Road, a main road in Pakistan’s second city, of illegal construction and street vendors on Monday, provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told media. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group claimed responsibility for the attack, confirming they used a suicide bomber on a motorcycle. The explosion took place near one of the city’s largest office towers, home to a government-sponsored technology park. Many analysts like to state that Pakistan has made significant gains in the fight against armed militant groups since 2014, however the continuous wave of attacks on security personal and civilians since then states otherwise. The fact that in February Pakistan launched a new operation, dubbed “Radd-al-Fasad” (Elimination of Chaos), to widen the scope of military operations against the armed groups just epitomises the failure of policy makers in Pakistan that for the past few years have made the same mistakes over and over again at the expense of the civilian population. Pakistan should look to address the root of the problem as opposed to its symptoms.
Saudi Slashes Exports to Rescue Economy
Saudi Arabia announced its intent to slash oil exports by hundreds of thousands of barrels a day next month in order to reduce global supply and increase its revenues by way of higher prices. Brent was up $1.36 (2%) at $49.96 and was closing in on a seven-week high. ‘OPEC said that stocks held by industrial nations had fallen by 90 million barrels in the first six months of the year but were still 250 million barrels above the five-year average, which is the target level for OPEC and non-OPEC members.’ Saudi’s previous plans to cut production failed to increase demand as the US filled gaps within the market to steal its market share. Despite the rhetoric of Saudi trying to reduce the inventories of the United States, it is clear that their proposals are negligible due to the shale revolution that has effectively removed control over prices from OPEC.
French Power
The head of the French armed forces has resigned amid a bitter public row with the president, Emmanuel Macron in an unprecedented dispute that has highlighted the strain on the French military, deployed in numerous operations abroad and at home. The military chief, Gen Pierre de Villiers, said in a resignation statement on Wednesday that he no longer felt able to command the sort of armed forces “that I think is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people”. The row began last week when a government minister revealed in a newspaper interview that – despite assurances that the French military budget would rise – there would be a surprise €850m cut to military finances as Macron seeks to slash public spending. De Villiers, 60, a famously straight-talking general who commanded French forces in Kosovo, then told a closed parliamentary committee with sharp words against the government and their spending cuts. Macron hit back by publicly slapping down the general at the annual summer military garden party, telling army generals in a speech: “I am the boss.” Like Britain, France as a power has been in decline and is struggling to maintain its position in the world. But France lacks the capability to meet much of its political goals and this disagreement with the military is evidence of this.