Radical Islam: A Global Problem World Leaders Must Confront

By Neil Snyder – “Radical Islam is a growing problem throughout the world. In Europe, it’s a burgeoning issue that politicians have been unwilling to address properly because of the influence of Muslims there, but it’s a critical problem in the United States, too — especially in our nation’s prisons.

The mood in the U.S. is so anti-anti-Islam that politicians run for cover whenever Islam is raised as an issue. Not so with Representative Peter King (R-New York). He endured death threats and ridicule from liberals because he held hearings in the House of Representatives to investigate the Islamist threat we face as a nation. The people who castigated King because he took his job in the House seriously will be the first in line to raise a ruckus if/when a homegrown terrorist, maybe an ex-convict who is out on parole, attacks innocent men, women, and children in this country.

I’m reminded of a scene in the movie Ghost Writer. Pierce Brosnan plays a former British prime minister being charged with crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Geneva, Switzerland for trying to prevent terrorist attacks in Great Britain. Toward the end of the movie, Brosnan tells his ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) that if he had it to do all over again, he would have two lines for people boarding planes out of England. The first line would lead to planes carrying passengers whose terrorist affiliations and connections were not investigated. The second line would lead to planes carrying passengers who had been cleared. He says, in effect, ‘You know which planes the chronic complainers would board. Every one of them would choose a plane that we cleared.’

The movie is fiction, but the problem is real. World leaders who attempt to deal with the growing Islamist militancy problem that’s spreading across the globe like a putrid infection are at risk of being charged with crimes against humanity or worse in the ICC. For example, President George W. Bush was forced to cancel a trip to Geneva in February 2011 to avoid being charged with crimes against humanity for the role he played as president of the United States in creating the federal prison in Guantánamo Bay, where the U.S. holds captured terrorists.

Radical Islam Is a Global Threat

An article in a June 2011 issue of The Weekly Standard titled ‘From Somalia to Nigeria: Jihad’ stops far short of revealing the extent to which radical Islamists have infiltrated countries around the world. ‘From Somalia to Nigeria’ is across the heart of Africa, from the Arabian Sea to the South Atlantic, but jihadists have a major presence in every North African country, too, from Morocco to Egypt. Their presence in the Middle East is obvious as well, from Saudi Arabia to Lebanon and Syria, but it doesn’t stop there. They have created strongholds in Iran, Afghanistan, and the Indian subcontinent. Their reach extends from India to the Philippines and Indonesia and into the heart of Asia from China to Russia.

Jihadists are active in Europe, too, but their presence doesn’t stop there, either. They have footholds in most South American countries, including Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil. Like a thriving cancer, jihadists have extended their reach to North America from Mexico to the United States to Canada.” Read more.

Indonesia: Muslims Shut Down Protestant Church Accused of Proselytising Muslims

By Joseph DeCaro – “JATINANGOR, INDONESIA (Worthy News)– Muslims of the Islamic Defender Front aided by local officials recently shut down a Protestant church in Jatinangor on rumors that the church was a haven for newly baptised Christians.

Rev. Bernard Maukar, head of the Christian community, was also accused of proselytising in a predominantly Muslim area.

The chief of the village where the church is located said he had the right to close it down because it was within his jurisdiction.

‘This area is under my authority,’ said Arief Saefolah. ‘Please, get out as soon as possible.’

Saefolah and other local officials seized all Christian property, including furniture, musical instruments, and vehicles.

A Christian woman lamented that the police didn’t lift a finger to stop the vandalism.

‘Police have no guts against this radical group,’ she said.” Source.

Sudan: Authorities Threaten to Raze Three Churches in Bid to Rid Country of Christianity

KHARTOUM, Sudan, October 12 (CDN) — “Local authorities have threatened to demolish three church buildings in Omdurman as part of a long-standing bid to rid Sudan of Christianity, Christian sources told Compass.

Officials from the Ministry of Physical Planning and Public Utilities-Khartoum State appeared at the three church sites in Omdurman, on the Nile River opposite Khartoum, the afternoon of Sept. 11, threatening to demolish the structures if the churches continued to conduct worship services, church leaders said.

Church leaders from the three churches in the Madinat al Fath area of Omdurman – the Sudanese Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church of Sudan and the Roman Catholic Church – said they were surprised to see government officials come to their church premises and accuse them of operating churches on government land without permission. The church leaders told Compass the buildings were not located on government land and required no permission.

They said that, starting at 2 p.m. the officials asked leaders of the Sudanese Church of Christ who had given them permission to build on government land, and then proceeded to the other two churches. The officials marked the three church buildings for demolition with red crosses, saying, ‘We are going to demolish these churches,’ the church leaders said.

Jaafer al Sudani, manager of Church Affairs in the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowment, told Compass that officials there had no knowledge of church buildings to be demolished. The state planning officials insist that the churches are operating on government land.

Citing a growing tide of hostility toward Christians, members of the threatened churches said they were concerned about their future.

‘These are clearly evil plans directed against churches and Christians in this country,’ said Kornules Yousif, an area Christian leader.

‘This is serious,’ said another church member who asked to remain unnamed. ‘We do not want them to demolish our churches.’

Local Muslims complain of the Christian presence in the area, Yousif said.

“Muslims say churches are not supposed to be given permission to operate because the number of Muslims is greater than that of Christians,” he said.” Read more.

Pakistan: Christian Mother Accused of ‘Blasphemy’ Tortured in Jail by Warden

The Tribune – “One would think that Aasia Bibi, the young Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in a Nankana Sahib village in late 2010, had suffered quite enough. For over a year, she has been kept in a ‘special’ cell at the Sheikhupura jail — separated from her husband and young children who remain in hiding. Her family has denied she committed any wrong, and alleges the charges against her stem from her using a cup to drink water also used by fellow Muslim labourer. Her husband lives in fear of death by extremists and there has been concern that Aasia herself will be murdered in prison — as others accused of blasphemy before her, have also met the same fate.

As if all this was not enough, we now hear Aasia has been subjected to ‘torture’ within jail, by a female warden who claims she found ‘illicit’ items in her cell. Few details are available on this matter, but it seems other staffers did little to stop the violation of jail rules that occurred. The abuse or manhandling of a detainee is, of course, prohibited. The guilty warden has since been suspended — but even this action seems to have come rather late in the day, and perhaps many people will support what the warden did (just like how many support what Mumtaz Qadri has done). Torture, of course, is endemic in our jails; no one should suffer it — but the string of miseries imposed on Aasia Bibi seem never to end. There is a possibility that she is being victimised for being a ‘blasphemy accused’ individual. This, too, has happened before.” Read more.

Obama Responds to Egyptian Military’s Massacre of Christians … By Asking Christians to Show Restraint

The sooner this sorry excuse of a leader is voted out of office, the better …

By Keith Koffler – “President Obama has responded to the Egyptian military’s massacre of Coptic Christian protestors in Cairo Sunday with a pointedly even-handed statement that calls equally on Christians and the military to show restraint.

‘The President is deeply concerned about the violence in Egypt that has led to a tragic loss of life among demonstrators and security forces,’ Obama said in a statement released this week. ‘Now is a time for restraint on all sides so that Egyptians can move forward together to forge a strong and united Egypt.’

Incredibly, Obama is not only equating the deaths of peaceful protestors and their killers, but he is suggesting that Egypt’s increasingly persecuted Christian minority should show as much ‘restraint’ as their tormentors and refrain from vigorously objecting to the growing abuse.

More than two dozen people, most of them Copts, were killed as security forces attacked demonstrators protesting the burning of a church.

The Egyptian military has denied the killings, but news reports, eyewitness accounts, and videos posted to the Internet contradict the claims, with footage showing armed personnel carriers ramming through crowds of protestors and a soldier firing at them. The dead, according to forensic reports, were either crushed by being run over or were shot.

Three soldiers are also said to have died, but this appears to have occurred as protestors were fighting for their lives. There can be no mistaking that this was a slaughter of civilians.

The church burning was only the latest in an escalating series of attacks by Islamists against Christians and their churches.” Read more.

Flashback: Netanyahu associate: Obama detached from regional realities – “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s associates expressed their disappointment with Barack Obama’s speech Thursday, with one aide saying that the US president is detached from regional realities… Referring to the US president’s Mideast policy speech, a Netanyahu associate said: ‘He (Obama) didn’t deliver the goods…Obama apparently does not understand the reality in the Mideast.'” Read more.

Japan: Officials ‘Shocked’ After Extraordinarily High Level of Radiation Detected in Tokyo Neighborhood

Radiation readings just a few feet away from the contaminated ‘glass bottles in a cardboard box’ are ‘normal’, yet they found it?  Source may not be from Fukushima?  Something sounds fishy to me …

“Tokyo (CNN) — An extraordinarily high level of radiation was detected in one spot in a central Tokyo residential district Thursday, prompting the local government to cordon off the small area, local officials said.

Radiation levels were higher in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward than in the evacuation area around the badly damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to ward Mayor Nobuto Hosaka.

‘We are shocked to see such high radiation level was detected in our neighborhood. We cannot leave it as is,’ Hosaka told reporters.

But the tsunami-struck Fukushima plant may not be the source of the radiation, Hosaka said later on state television.

Officials searching for the cause found ‘glass bottles in a cardboard box’ in the basement of a house in the neighborhood which sent radiation detectors off the charts, he said on NHK.

‘We suspect these bottles in basement could be the cause of the high radiation reading and we are hastily working to confirm it,’ he said.

Radiation experts are now checking what contaminated the bottles, a Setagaya ward official told CNN, declining to be named in line with policy.

They told the local government there are no immediate health hazards.

Radiation levels just a few feet from the contaminated spot are normal, Hosaka said.” Read more.

Radioactive Strontium Detected in Yokohama south of Tokyo – “Radioactive strontium exceeding normal quantities has been detected in sediment from atop an apartment building in Yokohama,  south of Tokyo, and radiation levels as high as 2.707 microsieverts per hour have been detected on a local sidewalk in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, Japanese media reported. The strontium 90 was detected in Yokohama, some 250 kilometers from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, by a private agency that conducted the test upon the request of a resident. This is the first time strontium at a concentration of over 100 becquerels per kilogram has been found beyond 100 km from the Fukushima plant.” Read more.

New Zealand: Never Before Seen Bacterial Disease Killing and Deforming Hundreds of Eels in Southland’s Mataura River

Radio New Zealand News – “The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry says a bacterial disease never seen before in New Zealand is leaving behind hundreds of deformed and dead kanakana or lamprey in Southland’s Mataura river.

The jawless type of eel provides a valuable source of food for local Maori.

Last month, Hokonui Runanga chairman Rewi Alglem sent samples to MAF for testing, after finding kanakana with red- coloured fins and contusions on their bodies.

MAF’s biosecurity response acting manager, Glen Neal, says tests have found the fish to be infected by the bacterium Aeromonas salmonicida.

He says the disease can affect salmon, trout, eel and whitebait species including kokopu.

Mr Neal says MAF is moving quickly to establish the potential impact of the disease, which hasn’t been found before in New Zealand.” Source.

Florida: Thousands of Dead Fish Reported 4 Miles Off Captiva Pass, Floating Towards Lee County Beaches

“LEE COUNTY, FL – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating whether or not red tide is responsible for a fish kill four miles west of Captiva Pass.

Whether red tide is the culprit or not, there are thousands of dead fish headed towards Lee County beaches.

‘The nerves that allow them to move their gills anymore don’t work anymore so they suffocate,’ said Rick Bartleson, Marine Biologist with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.

Algae is in the Gulf of Mexico normally. But it doesn’t take much for it to bloom. And Bartleson says now is the perfect time for it to cause deadly results.

‘The requirements are light, the right temperature, nutrients and then they can take off,’ he said.

He says as the algae reproduces, it kills marine life in its path. And it can also cause people to suffer from respiratory issues.

‘You definitely can feel it when it’s around. Recently, I felt some in my throat near the causeway and we had a little bloom. It doesn’t take a lot to know its there,’ Bartleson said.

Besides the dead fish, he says you can even see it in the water.

‘You can see it’s a milky color and a little bit red,’ he explained.

But the look isn’t the worst of it. Below the water, he says, the algae kills everything in its path.

When we asked him how destructive the organism actually is he replied, ‘On a scale of one to 10. It’s a 10.'” Read more.

Gulf Coast: 4 Dead Dolphins Wash Up on Gulf Coast Beaches in 5 Days, Deaths Part of ‘Unusual Mortality Event’

By Ben Raines, Press-Register – “DAUPHIN ISLAND, Alabama — A dolphin carcass, bloated and violet in the morning sun, was found on Fort Morgan early Saturday, bringing the number lost since the BP oil spill to more than 400.

Three other dolphins have washed up in Alabama in the past week, including a pregnant female on Dauphin Island and a mother and calf pair on Hollingers Island in Mobile Bay.

‘We should be seeing one (death) a month at this time of year,’ said Ruth Carmichael, a Dauphin Island Sea Lab scientist tasked with responding to reports of dead dolphins. ‘We’re getting one or more a week. It’s just never slowed down.’

An examination of the Gulfwide death toll, broken down by month, reveals that dolphins continue to die at rates four to 10 times higher than normal. For instance, 23 dolphins were found dead in August, compared to a monthly average of less than 3 each August between 2002 and 2009.

Federal scientists acknowledge they are no closer to solving the mystery behind the ‘Unusual Mortality Event’ that has been sweeping through the Gulf’s dolphin population since March of 2010, one month before BP’s well was unleashed.” Read more.

British Columbia: Hundreds of Fish Wash Up Dead Along Cougar Creek

By Matthew Bossons, Postmedia News – “SURREY – Scores of dead juvenile Coho, Chum and Cutthroat Trout were spotted this past weekend along a stretch of Cougar Creek.

Passersby noticed the dead fish on the banks of the creek on Saturday afternoon and contacted the Ministry of Environment.

Pete Willows, a salmonid enhancement volunteer with the Cougar Canyon Streamkeepers, and his son Steve brought buckets of rainwater to the scene in a desperate bid to save as many fish as possible.

But it was too late and they only managed to save a handful of fish.

‘We were able to save six fish, two Cutthroats, three Coho and the other one was a Brown Bullhead,’ said Willows.

‘We also saved two sticklebacks.’

It’s not known what caused the fish to die.

Ministry of Environment officials weren’t available for comment at Now press time.

The creek is part of a successful hatchery program run by Willows and has seen yearly returns of Coho.” Source.

Alaska: Mysterious Outbreak Kills Dozens of Ringed Seals Along Arctic Coast

By Alex DeMarban – “A mysterious and potentially widespread disease is thought to have contributed to the deaths of dozens of ringed seals along Alaska’s Arctic coast. Scores more are sickened, some so ill that skin lesions bleed when touched.

The animals are an important subsistence food, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has proposed listing them as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

In July, biologists with the North Slope Borough’s Department of Wildlife Management began receiving reports of ringed seals hauled out on beaches, an unusual behavior since the animals usually prefer the water or ice. Since then, they’ve found at least 100 seals with telltale mangy hair and skin lesions, mostly while traveling by four-wheeler along 30 miles of Beaufort and Chukchi sea coastline outside Barrow.

At least 46 of those seals have been found dead, and experts aren’t sure if the disease is killing them or if other infections and polar bears are proving fatal once the seals become feeble.

‘Right now we’re leaning toward it being a virus, and that could weaken their immune system,’ said Jason Herreman, a borough wildlife biologist studying seals and polar bears.

The Department of Wildlife Management has never documented a similar outbreak in the North Slope region, Herreman said. Scientists don’t know the scope of the problem because since ringed seals are difficult to track and haven’t been counted for decades. Hundreds of thousands are thought to live in the region.

Reports of nearly 150 other seals with the illness have come in from villages outside Barrow, population 4,200, as well as from Chukotka, Russia, and Tuktoyuktak, a village on the northwestern corner of Canada, Herreman said. North Slope biologists are trying to determine the magnitude of the problem in the other countries, he said. Borough biologists have sent numerous tissue samples, from dead seals and others still alive, to laboratories around the country. Still, they have no answer.” Read more.

Egyptian Warplanes Patrol Sinai Without Israel’s Consent, ‘We Do Not Need Permission to Increase Our Forces On Our Land’

“Egypt’s air force chief said on Thursday that Egyptian warplanes are patrolling Sinai without Israel’s consent, despite a 1979 peace treaty limiting Egypt’s military presence in the peninsula.

‘Sinai is our land, and we do not need permission to increase our forces on our land,’ General Reda Hafiz told the official MENA news agency.

‘Egyptian planes conduct patrols to secure all Egypt’s borders, including the eastern border,’ he said.

Parts of Sinai have been restricted to Egyptian troops under the terms of the 1979 treaty, by which Israel agreed to withdraw from the territory. In recent months, however, the Egyptian army has deployed reinforcements with Israeli consent to tackle suspected Islamist militants.

The government had approved an increase in Egyptian army deployment to Sinai in August after a series of deadly attacks on the south were blamed on militants operating out of the territory.” Read more.