Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Obama Frowns on Egyptian Army’s Alignment With Gulf Regimes, Coming Crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood
Jul 7th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

After US Secretary of State John Kerry was filmed vacationing on his yacht at the peak of the Egyptian crisis, President Barack Obama released this statement early Sunday, July 7: “The US is not aligned with and is not supporting any particular Egyptian political party or group and condemns “ongoing violence across Egypt.”  Obama made these points in a telephone conference with the National Security Council from Camp David.
To further rebut US media criticism, the administration reported that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had spoken three times with Egypt’s Defense Minister Abdel Fattah El-Sisi about the military coup which deposed Mohamed Morsi on July 3, to demand the expeditious reinstatement of civilian rule.

Nothing was said about the general’s response. The military has along denied staging a coup, insisting it only stepped in to avert civil bloodshed and a provisional government would prepare the country for early elections.  
Both parties to this exchange were putting on an act. For President Obama, the Muslim Brothers’ ouster was and remains unacceptable. By denying support for any particular party or group, he was also saying he wants no truck with the generals who made it happen.
It was also evident that Gen. El-Sisi rejected Hagel’s demand.
Indeed, the army chief is determined not to let Washington interfere with his next moves, realizing that the Muslim Brotherhood’s president dismissal was but the first step in a process which must be followed up if it is not to implode in chaos.

At least another six months are needed for the rewriting of the constitution, installing a working interim administration and setting up elections for the presidency and parliament. In that time, Egypt will be on a knife’s edge. debkafile’s Middle East sources report the army chief plans two steps for cutting through the tension, in the knowledge that the first, at least, will be strongly censured by Washington:
1. The Muslim Brotherhood’s top leadership was more or less decapitated when the army seized power Wednesday, July 3. Next, the generals plan to send security forces to fan out across the country for mass arrests of thousands of local activists. They will be confined in detention centers already in preparation.
By this action, Gen. El-Sisi will be treading in the footsteps of Gemal Abdul Nasser in the fifties and Anwar Sadat in the seventies. Those rulers kept thousands of Muslim Brotherhood national and field operatives in pirson and under tight control for years before gradually letting them out on condition they did not run for office.
The army chief, while bracing for Washington’s condemnation, is also assured of approval by the Gulf rulers led by the Saudi royal house.
Likewise, if the US cuts off or reduces military aid to Egypt, currently running at $1.3 billion a year, the Egyptian strongman has Gulf guarantees to make up the difference.
Cairo’s post-coup military rulers are therefore squaring up for a major collision with Washington, which would also encompass their backers, the conservative pro-West Arab governments of the Persian Gulf.

At the same time, say our Middle East sources, Gen. El-Sisis is looking to the long term. He believes that his alignment with the Gulf will eventually lead to back to an understanding with the United States, although he will have to ride out the initial rift with the Obama administration.

2. The second step he plans is a crackdown on the estimated 10,000 armed Salafists, some of them working for al Qaeda, who have made Sinai their stamping ground.
debkafile’s military sources recall that as a past military intelligence chief, later commander of Egyptian forces in Sinai, Gen. El-Sisi is thoroughly acquainted with the terrain and conditions of the peninsula.

Our intelligence sources disclose that the generals in Cairo now believe the Muslim Brotherhood regime deliberately turned a blind eye in the past year to the massive flow of weapons smuggled in from Libya into Sinai and onto the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Brotherhood, it appears, had been quietly accumulating an arsenal for the contingency of its downfall by setting up a clandestine armed "Center of Revolt" for resistance operations against any takeover of rule in Cairo.

This Center of Revolt has set up a coalition with the armed Islamist gangs terrorizing Sinai. This was confirmed in the last 24 hours by Salafist statements, such as: “Sinai is the center of revolt against the military coup which deposed Mohamed Morsi as president.”
The generals realize the urgency of cutting down this Islamist terrorist-backed revolt before it spreads out of control to Cairo and the Suez cities of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia - not to mention the threat of sabotage to the international cargo and oil shipping traffic passing through the Suez Canal.

Since Friday, the first attacks have been ongoing on Egyptian military targets in Sinai, leaving five officers and a Coptic priest dead. Early Sunday, Salafist Bedouin blew up the Sinai gas pipeline to Jordan. Sabotage of the pipeline stopped after Egypt discontinued supplies to Israel.

On this second step by the Egyptian military, the Obama administration faces a serious dilemma: On the one hand, the United States can hardly object to a major Egyptian military crackdown on Salafist terrorist groups which work hand in glove with al Qaeda and the Palestinian Hamas.

On the other, in order to succeed, the Egyptian army must destroy the weapons caches the Muslim Brotherhood hoarded in Sinai. This would further weaken the movement after its loss of rule in Cairo.
Another problem for the US president is that in Sinai, Egyptian and Israeli security interests undeniably converge.

Full-scale Egyptian military operations in Sinai are dependent on Israel’s consent under the demilitarization clauses of their 1979 peace treaty. They would also be welcomed by Jerusalem which kept anti-terrorist forces parked on the Egyptian border from the time that the Muslim Brotherhood came to power a year ago.

The crackdown on Islamist terrorists in Sinai will bring the collaboration between Egypt's military rulers and Israel out in the open and further complicate the Obama administration’s stance in relation to the new regime in Cairo. 

News Update Driverless Train Carrying Oil Explodes, Leveling Canadian Town
Jul 7th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A freight train carrying tankers of crude oil derailed at high speed and exploded in a giant fireball in the middle of a the small south Canadian town of Lac-Megantic north of the US town of Maine Saturday. Some 60 people are missing after more than 1,000 houses were flattened. The runaway train spilled oil into the environment including the nearby lake.

Let the Headlines Speak
Jul 7th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Congress Is on Pace to Do Less Than Record-Breaking Low
The current U.S. Congress, facing a backlog of unfinished business and sliding approval ratings, is on pace to clear fewer bills than its predecessor -- which had the least number of measures signed into the law since modern record keeping began in the 1940s.  

Egyptian protesters renew fears of street violence with calls for mass rallies
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is calling for protests to denounce the military’s toppling of President Mohammed Morsi, while opponents of the ousted Islamist leader also are urging supporters to take to the streets for mass rallies.  

China Radio: "The U.S. And Europe Have Always Suppressed The Rising Price Of Gold"
The U.S. and Europe have always suppressed the rising price of gold. They intend to weaken gold's function as an international reserve currency. They don't want to see other countries turning to gold reserves instead of the U.S. dollar or Euro. Therefore, suppressing the price of gold is very beneficial for the U.S. in maintaining the U.S. dollar's role as the international reserve currency.  

Explosions Rock Buddhist Temple in India
A series of explosions rocked one of Buddhism’s holiest sites on Sunday morning, an attack on the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya in eastern India that officials quickly labeled terrorism.  

2 dead, dozens injured in San Francisco Asiana Airlines plane crash
A team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived in San Francisco early Sunday to begin the formal investigation into why a Boeing 777 from South Korea crash landed Saturday morning at San Francisco International Airport, killing two and injuring dozens  

'Muslim Brotherhood claims interim Egyptian president is Jewish'
The Muslim Brotherhood claimed in a post on its official website that Egypt's new interim president Adli Mansour is Jewish, The Washington Post reported on Friday. The article on IkhwanOnline was subsequently removed.  

'Dozens dead' in school attack in Nigeria's Yobe state
At least 29 pupils and a teacher have been killed in a pre-dawn attack by suspected Islamists on a school in northeastern Nigeria, reports say. Eyewitnesses said some of the victims were burned alive in the attack, in Mamudo town, Yobe state. Dozens of schools have been burned in attacks by Islamists since 2010.  

6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes Indonesia
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia on Saturday, days after a temblor left dozens dead in the nation. The quake struck off the island of Sumatra, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It had earlier stated it was a 6.4-magnitude quake, but revised the number.  

Huge waves hit Chile and Peru
Waves as high as 7m (22 ft) have hit parts of Chile and coastal areas are on alert as high winds and tidal currents sweep across parts of South America's coast. Footage showed huge waves surging onto the streets of Antofagasta in Chile where at least one injury was reported following the dangerous weather.  

Iraqi Kurdish president visits Baghdad to ease disputes
The president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, visited Baghdad on Sunday for the first time in more than two years, in a step towards resolving long-running disputes between the central government and the autonomous region over land and oil.  

Inconsistency: Obama OK with voter ID in Kenya, but not in U.S.
A conservative analyst finds it odd that during his recent African tour, President Barack Obama announced support for a citizen ID program in Kenya - yet considers a similar effort in the United States to be racially motivated.

Israeli Minister: We Should Rebuild Jerusalem Temple
Jul 7th, 2013
Daily NewsIsrael Today Staff
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

An Israeli cabinet minister last week publicly stated that perhaps the time has come to rebuild the biblical Temple on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

Most Israelis has no aspirations of rebuilding the Temple. Even among those who would like to see the Temple restored, most do not believe Israel can undertake something so controversial absent a direct act of God.

But that didn't stop Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) from stating that "we need to build a real Temple on the Temple Mount."

Ariel was speaking at a press event in the Samarian community of Shilo, where archaeologists have uncovered remains of the biblical Tabernacle that was located there for hundreds of years before King David's conquest of Jerusalem.

Editors Note.....This is the first time a goverment official has made this suggestion.

Israel One Step Closer to Sending Ultra - Orthodox to Army
Jul 7th, 2013
Daily NewsIsrael Today Staff
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet on Sunday approved a bill that will result in the military conscription of most of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish males by 2017.

Until now, the vast majority of ultra-Orthodox males have opted out of national service, a fact that has caused a deep rift between religious and secular Israelis, the latter feeling that they were carrying too much of the national security burden alone.

Many of the parties that fared well in Israel's legislative election earlier this year had vowed to finally remedy this problem, including the religious Jewish Home faction.

The bill passed Sunday's vote with a count of 14 in favor, zero against and four abstentions. It will now go to the Knesset, where it is almost certain to pass into law, as even the main opposition Labor Party supports bringing the ultra-Orthodox into the IDF and, hopefully, into the national workforce.

A number of compromises were made in the bill to bring it to this point.

If the bill becomes law, it will require all Israeli Jews, including ultra-Orthodox, to answer the call of mandatory military service, with a few exceptions.

• Ultra-Orthodox females can still opt out of national service;
• Rabbis can annually mark 1,800 prize Torah students who will be exempt from national service so they can continue studies;
• and all ultra-Orthodox males can defer their national service for up to three years in order to first complete studies.

When Israel first declared independence in 1948, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion agreed that a limited number of religious Jews would forgo army service so they could focus on Bible studies and prayer, which he considered just as important as wielding a gun in the nation's defense. However, for decades that agreement has been abused and manipulated to win exemption for nearly all ultra-Orthodox Jews, resulting in a loss of over 10,000 conscripts every year for the IDF.

Banning Homeschools Teaches Tolerance of Diverse Views, Justice Dept. Argues
Jul 7th, 2013
Daily Newschristianpost.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Advancing the goal of tolerance in society may require denying parents the right to determine their children's education, the U.S. Justice Department argued in a legal brief for the case of a German homeschooling family seeking asylum.

The Romeikes fled to the United States from Germany when they were faced with heavy fines and the possibility of having their children taken away from them for choosing to homeschool rather than send their children to the German public schools. They chose to homeschool because they believed the public schools were teaching their children lessons antithetical to their evangelical Christian beliefs.

Though they were initially granted asylum by a district judge, an immigration court and the Justice Department has sought to send them back to Germany. In May, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the Justice Department. The Justice Department's June 26 brief is in response to a request for a rehearing of the case filed by the Home School Legal Defense Association, which is representing the Romeikes.

In the brief, the Justice Department supports a German court's reasoning for forcing the Romeikes to send their children to public school.

The value of Germany's law, the DOJ explained, is to bring "people of differing views together to learn from each other and to learn to accept those whose views differ from their own." The brief praised this goal of an "open, pluralistic society."

"Teaching tolerance to children of all backgrounds helps to develop the ability to interact as a fully functioning citizen of Germany," the DOJ wrote. 

With this goal in mind, the brief continued, it is "scarcely feasible" that Germany is persecuting homeschoolers.

Since Germany's mandatory public schooling law applies to everyone, not just homeschoolers, the department reasons, it does not discriminate against homeschoolers.

In other words, it is reasonable, the Justice Department argues, for Germany to work toward the goal of an open, pluralistic society by forcing the children of religious minorities to attend public school.

The Justice Department brief also states in the introduction that government, rather than parents, should decide whether homeschools, public schools, or private schools are best.

The "propriety of homeschooling versus schooling in a public or private school" is a judgment "properly left to the political branches of government," the brief states.

In response to the brief, Michael Farris, chairman of HSLDA, argued that what the Justice Department calls pluralism is not really pluralism.

While pluralism seeks to respect a diversity of views, the Romeikes removed their children from the public schools because they believed their views were not respected in the public schools. Their view that their children would best be served by homeschooling was also not respected by Germany.

"Targeting religious minorities for the purpose of suppressing 'parallel societies,' however, is the antithesis of pluralism," Farris wrote.

The reasoning found in the Justice Department's brief was similar to that of some American legal scholars who also argue against a parent's right to determine their children's education, Farris continued.

"American legal academics have made the argument that American homeschooling should be banned or curtailed to promote tolerance. The [attorney general's] argument marches to the dangerous cadence of the drumbeat of these scholars. Silencing the 'intolerant' to promote tolerance is not only illogical; it is antithetical to any theory of freedom of conscience," he wrote.

Editors note.....This amounts to tolerance of every aberrant philosophy, behavior, view and religious conviction, but it is totally intolerant of the convictions of the Christian. This is the imposition of the values of one group upon another. This is the foundation for a totalitarian state and it is the removal of religious freedom in one act supposed tolerance.

This is a repeat of that which has transpired all down through the Church age, and resulted in followers of Christ going to the stake for their convictions. It was for this very reason that believers originally came to the new world.

Beyond moral persuasion the Christian does not seek to take away the liberty and right of non-believers to act as they choose. The act of moral persuasion is a right that the Christian grants to the non-believer as well, in fact immoral persuasion is constantly directed toward all of society.