https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/
Two teachers face long prison sentences for educating Baha’is, who are banned from pursuing further education in Iran. After repeated harassment and intimidation, married couple Azita Rafizadeh and Peyman Kushak-Baghi have been convicted for their involvement with the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE). Rafizadeh recently received a summons notice to begin her sentence, and will be forced to leave her six-year-old son behind.
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/macron-radical-islam-france/
France has declared a state of emergency following the recent terrorist attack in Nice, and violent demonstrations are being held across the Arab and Muslim worlds amid calls for boycotts and terrorist attacks against France. Exacerbated by the severe economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, this crisis reflects France’s failure to integrate its Muslim minority and to set and enforce clear boundaries against anti-democratic and separatist tendencies within it.
The shocking murder of teacher Samuel Paty by a teenaged Islamist Chechen immigrant provoked a tumultuous emotional response in France. Paty was killed after he showed his students the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published by the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo that led to the January 2015 Islamist massacre of that paper’s journalists. Paty’s object in displaying the cartoons was to prompt a class discussion on the values of freedom of speech and expression that characterize French society.
This murderous blow to the heart of the liberal French republic, which welcomes refugees and immigrants and grants them civil and economic rights, provoked a heated debate. In the past five years, France has experienced 33 terrorist attacks by French Muslim citizens. The targeting of Paty for assassination, his gruesome public beheading, and the posting of video of the murder on the internet illustrated that Islamic zealots pose an existential threat to France’s basic republican order.
Over the years, French governments have tried to address the problem through two main venues: reforms to improve the economic and social situation in the suburbs and vigorous measures against extremist Islamist elements. The latter included overseeing religious teaching institutions; closing down radical institutions and associations; deporting foreign imams who incite violence, citizens with dual citizenship who were involved in terrorist activities, and illegal immigrants; monitoring extremist social networks; and increasing budgets and manpower for intelligence and surveillance operations. President Macron’s attempt to advance legislation to monitor more illegal immigrants failed due to political disagreements between right- and left-wing parties and the proposed laws’ disqualification by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that they violate human rights.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-set-to-sanction-top-pro-hezbollah-politician-11604627966
The Trump administration is expected on Friday to impose sanctions on one of Lebanon’s most powerful Christian politicians in an effort to chip away at Hezbollah’s grip on power, according to people briefed on the move.
The U.S. is preparing to sanction former Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil for assisting his key ally, the pro-Iranian political movement Hezbollah, said a U.S. official and another person briefed on the plan. The move is likely to upend attempts to form a new cabinet in crisis-ridden Lebanon.
The White House has been expediting key sanctions targeting American foes in the Middle East, just 11 weeks before the end of the current presidential term.
Though a last-minute change is still possible, the decision has been approved in principle by the Treasury Department and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is expected to unveil the sanctions in Washington Friday before noon, one person said.
Treasury Department representatives didn’t return requests for comment. A spokesman for the State Department declined to comment.
Mr. Bassil couldn’t be reached late Thursday for comment. Earlier this year, when asked about the possibility of being sanctioned by the U.S. for his ties to Hezbollah, Mr. Bassil told The Wall Street Journal that working with the group was a political reality in a country in which the Shiite group is a dominant player.
“Everybody should be sanctioned in Lebanon, because everybody deals with Hezbollah in Lebanon, on all terms,” he said.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/11/raymond-ibrahim-video-fatal-terror-attack-vienna-frontpagemagcom/
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/11/now-vienna-bruce-bawer/
Although I’ve lived in Europe since 1998 and traveled widely on the continent ever since, I’d never set foot in Austria until November of two years ago, when I spent a few days in Vienna. I enjoyed the visit so much that I went back in September of last year. I’d hoped to make these visits an annual practice, but the pandemic got in the way.
Meanwhile, I found myself writing a great deal about the U.S. presidential campaign, which shifted my focus away from my longtime principal topic, Islam in Europe. Also contributing to this shift was the fact that terrorism in Europe went through something of a lull. Yes, there were those horrible beheadings in France, which I wrote about. But for the most part I was preoccupied with Trump vs. Biden.
Then, on Monday evening, in an effort to clear my mind of all thoughts about the election, I sat down with my partner to re-watch The Americans, the best drama series in the history of American television. While we were watching it, he said that something had happened in Vienna. I replied that he must have misunderstood: nothing in the entire series has ever had anything to do with Vienna. He said no, he was talking about the real world. I looked over to see that he’d been checking the news on his phone.
Vienna! Multiple shooters, it was reported, had opened fire at several locations in the city center. Latest reports from the BBC indicate that two men and two women were killed and twenty-two more wounded, most of them apparently shot outside of bars and restaurants.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-cope-with-covid-the-worlds-poor-need-debt-relief-11604535612?mod=opinion_lead_pos7
The Covid-19 pandemic has taken lives and disrupted livelihoods in every corner of the globe. It has knocked more economies into simultaneous recession than at any time since 1870. According to World Bank estimates, in its first year it may push up to 150 million people into extreme poverty, ending two decades of steady progress on poverty reduction.
The current crisis stands in contrast to the recession of 2009, when much of the damage fell on financial assets and advanced economies were hit harder than developing countries. This time the economic downturn is much broader and deeper, and it has had an outsize impact on the poorest countries and the poorest people within each country, adding to inequality. It has hit workers whose jobs are unsteady or undocumented, and many of the most vulnerable.
The World Bank Group has moved rapidly to deploy its full financial capacity. We are on track to commit a record $160 billion over 15 months, and 40% of this amount was committed in the first six months. Our funding helps developing countries tackle the health, economic and social impacts of the pandemic. But even with the World Bank Group delivering massive positive net flows, the poorest countries need much more help.
For the most impoverished countries, the crisis and associated economic shutdowns came at a moment of particular peril. In 2019 almost half of all low-income countries were assessed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to be either in debt distress or at a high risk of it. With the pandemic, the debt burden has gotten much heavier due to the devastating contraction in output, remittances and family income across the developing world. If this mounting debt goes unaddressed, it could lead to a lost decade for the world’s poorest people.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16529/france-islamic-radicalization
The commission found the consequences of radicalization alarming, particularly the “dissemination of behaviors that… directly affect freedom of conscience, equality between men and women, and the rights of homosexual persons”.
“Under the guise of Islamophobia, political Islam was able to thrive by making people believe it could be nonviolent “. — Mohammed Sifaoui, journalist.
The report concludes that there is a risk of political infiltration from extremists in general and the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, especially in municipal councils.
The report sets forth 44 proposals in a multi-pronged effort to deal with radicalism.
A report published in July by a commission of inquiry of the French Senate, the upper house of the French Parliament, has found that “Islamist radicalization” is a “reality” in France. The commission of inquiry, made up of approximately thirty senators, interviewed a large number of researchers, politicians and other experts on the subject.
The commission found the consequences of radicalization alarming, particularly the “dissemination of behaviors that… directly affect freedom of conscience, equality between men and women, and the rights of homosexual persons”.
“[T]his religious revival, for some, is accompanied by a desire to affirm their belief in the public space, in the company, in the school, and of recognition by institutions and public services, which conflicts with the laws of the Republic and secularism”.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16724/the-real-enemy-of-islam
“The beheading of the French history teacher proves that political Islam has become a real threat to world peace in light of its expansionist tendency, which is currently embodied by Erdogan’s project, which not only targets the societies of Muslim countries, but also other societies that incubate important Islamic communities.” — Al-Habib Al-Aswad, Tunisian journalist, Al-Arab, October 28, 2020.
He wants to represent himself as a defender of Islam. Which Islam does he speak for? Erdogan has committed crimes in Libya, Syria and all Arab countries. He is the one who is offending Islam.” — Mustafa Bakri, Egyptian media personality, Al-Dostor Studio, October 30, 2020.
The reactions of many Arabs and Muslims show that they view Erdogan as a more serious threat to Islam than Macron or others in the West.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not authorized to speak on behalf of the Muslims, especially regarding the current controversy surrounding France’s attitude toward Islam and Muslim terrorist attacks. That is what many Muslims are saying these days in the aftermath of Erdogan’s attempt to present himself as the grand defender of Islam in a conflict that recently erupted between Muslims and France.
According to several Muslim political analysts and writers, Erdogan is trying to take advantage of the anti-France campaign in the Muslim world for his own political gain. The message the Muslims are sending to France and the rest of the world is that Erdogan is a hypocrite and opportunist, who is acting from personal interest and not out of concern for Muslims or Islam.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16690/turkey-historic-crimes
“In our civilization, conquest is not occupation or looting. It is establishing the dominance of the justice that Allah commanded in the [conquered] region…. This is why our civilization is one of conquest.” — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, MEMRI.org, August 26, 2020.
“Turkey will take what is its right in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Aegean Sea, and in the Black Sea…. This is why we are determined to do whatever is necessary politically, economically, or militarily. We invite our interlocutors to put themselves in order and stay away from mistakes that will open the way for them to be destroyed.” — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, MEMRI.org, August 26, 2020.
“The most savage treatment was always reserved for those visibly proclaiming their Christianity: clergy and monks ‘were burned to death, while others were flayed alive from head to toe.'” — Raymond Ibrahim, historian, Frontpage Magazine, August 7, 2019.
In 2018, the Speaker of Turkey’s parliament, İsmail Kahraman, described Turkey’s military offensive against northern Syria as “jihad.” “Without jihad,” he added, “there will be no progress.” During the same offensive, Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) also called for “jihad” and declared in a weekly sermon that “armed struggle is the highest level of jihad.”
The Turkish government has, in recent years, escalated its rhetoric of neo-Ottomanism and conquest.
On August 26, for instance, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave a speech at an event celebrating the 949th anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert. This battle resulted in Turks from Central Asia invading and capturing the then majority-Armenian city of Manzikert, within the borders of the Byzantine Empire.
Parts of his speech were translated by MEMRI:
“In our civilization, conquest is not occupation or looting. It is establishing the dominance of the justice that Allah commanded in the [conquered] region.
“First of all, our nation removed the oppression from the areas that it conquered. It established justice. This is why our civilization is one of conquest.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-world-still-watches-america-11604360015?mod
For the 58th time since George Washington headed to New York for his first inauguration, U.S. voters are choosing the president, and again the eyes of the world are firmly fixed on the spectacle.
This is partly because American policy still matters. Will Donald Trump or Joe Biden be strong enough to manage a deteriorating U.S.-China relationship—and smart enough to still preserve the elements of cooperation that benefit both parties? What role will the president play in the global recovery from the pandemic? Will he embrace international institutions like the World Trade Organization and agreements like the Paris climate accords, or will he undermine them? How will he deal with rancorous countries like Russia, Turkey and Iran? Will he side with traditional allies in Europe and the Middle East, or will he look for new relationships in an era of shifting geopolitics? Will he open America’s borders to migrants, or will he try to slam them shut?
Not only U.S. voters care about these issues. So do people around the world whose lives will be directly affected by the choice Americans are making this fall.
The world’s love-hate relationship with the U.S. is about more than military might and policy ideas. For all the talk about decline and the supposed collapse of American soft power, the U.S. remains the unrivaled diva on the global stage—the most arresting figure, if not always the most sympathetic one, whose antics keep all transfixed.
Top Stories @ Fox News