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Fox News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
I'm a Christian pastor who was born in Egypt. Here are 3 facts I learned about Iran's nuclear obsession
I grew up in a Christian community in Egypt. Like many other families, we suffered firsthand under the oppressive rule of the Islamo-socialist regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser, chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Egypt. Later, Nasser's military dictatorship controlled every aspect of our lives. As a young man, I escaped the repression of Nasser's Egypt and made my way to freedom in America. Having lived under Islamo-socialism in Egypt, I have a deep compassion for the suffering people of Iran. They only want to live in peace. But the leaders of Iran are committed to a death-cult ideology—and to a nuclear showdown with Western civilization. Here are three key facts that show why Iran's radical clerics will never abandon their nuclear obsession: Fact No. 1: A nuclear-armed Iran cannot be deterred by Cold War nuclear doctrines. During the Cold War, the logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) kept nuclear superpowers in check. Every president, premier, and prime minister knew that launching a nuclear attack would invite annihilation. I've heard people say, "We're already living with a nuclear-armed North Korea and a nuclear-armed Pakistan. Would a nuclear-armed Iran be any worse?" In fact, a nuclear-armed Iran would be infinitely worse. The reason is that Shiite Islam—the ruling ideology in Iran—makes Cold War doctrines of deterrence obsolete. Here's why: Fact No. 2: Iran's leaders have a religious incentive to launch Armageddon. I've spent countless hours talking to Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East. I also studied cultural anthropology at Emory University, with a focus on radical Islamic movements. My research was published in a textbook, "Revolt against Modernity." I believe it's vitally important that we in the West understand Islamic history and Islamic beliefs. Islam is divided into several sects, most notably Sunnis and Shiites. In 1501, the Safavid rulers of the Persian Empire declared Twelver Shiite Islam the official state religion, distinguishing Persia from its Sunni neighbors. After Persia was renamed Iran in 1935, Twelver Shiism remained the official faith. Twelver Shiism is the largest branch of Shia Islam, and is defined by its belief in twelve divinely ordained Imams (rightful successors to Muhammad). The last Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, supposedly went into occultation (a miraculously hidden state) in the 9th century. Twelvers claim the Mahdi will one day reappear to establish global justice. Many of Iran's clerics fervently believe that, before the Mahdi can be revealed, an apocalyptic battle must be fought between faithful Muslims and the forces of evil. As a result, some Iranian leaders—and possibly the Ayatollah himself—are motivated to trigger a nuclear war to fulfill the ancient prophecies and force the appearance of the hidden Mahdi. Iran officially denies having a nuclear weapons program. In October 2003, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, issued a fatwa stating that nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, claims Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build nine nuclear warheads. Shiite Islam invented a religious/judicial doctrine called Taqiyya, which necessitates deceiving your enemies until you have the upper hand. The recent attacks by Israel and the United States against Iran's nuclear facilities have dealt a serious setback to the clerics' nuclear ambitions—but don't be misled. Iran's Twelver Shiite clerics will never abandon their fanatical dream of launching a final war and revealing the long-hidden Mahdi. Fact No. 3: A nuclear-armed Iran threatens not only Israel, but all of Western civilization. Iran has shown that its missiles are capable of penetrating Israel's Iron Dome defense systems. Imagine if those missiles carried nuclear warheads! Even more troubling, Iran is aggressively developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) through its space launch vehicle (SLV) program. The director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, told Congress that Iran could use its SLV program to work "toward an ICBM capability." Whenever Iran tests a satellite launch vehicle, it's flexing its ability to threaten Europe and North America. The Iranian clerics have made their goal clear: "Death to Israel! Death to America!" But we in the West do not seek the death of Iran. We only want the Iranian people to be free from theocratic oppression. The people of Iran have repeatedly risen up against the Islamist regime—the 1999 Student Protests, the 2019 "Bloody November" protests, the 2022 women's rights protests, and many others. Each time the people rose up, the government brutally extinguished their cries for freedom. I trust and hope that another uprising comes soon, and that the people of Iran achieve their liberation. And I also hope that the leaders of the United States, Europe, and Israel do everything in their power to speed the arrival of that day.
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 days ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
History is Repeating Itself in Libya
As an old Arab proverb goes: 'With your people, you won't perish.' Without the protection and support of one's people, ruin becomes inevitable. A small problem arises, however, when we seek to determine who counts among 'your people', especially to those in power. Does the term refer strictly to one's kin (family, clan, or tribe) or does it encompass all citizens? The difference between the two is clear: the former is defined by blood ties alone, while the latter definition is broader. In the summer of 1975, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi settled the power struggle within the Revolutionary Command Council by eliminating his rivals and thwarting the coup they had been plotting against him. He then managed to fully dominate the council, the army, and the country, monopolizing power and becoming the country's only eagle. Reflecting on this bloody episode, one gets the impression that Gaddafi had been following this proverb. He turned to his people for support, placing his cousins in key positions to consolidate power and ensure his survival. Later, he was compelled to widen the circle slightly, bringing in other regions and reviving old kinship networks. That is how Gaddafi chose to fortify the foundations of his rule. This perverse approach plunged Libya into a dark period of regionalism and factionalism: alliances that had been formed under Italian colonial rule (and that had made it easier for the Italians to crush the resistance movement in the west of the country) were revived. Since 2011, history has seemingly been repeating itself. After Libya had come close to becoming a country for all Libyans without exception, it was captured by militias and terrorists who split the spoils of the nation's wealth among themselves. Corruption exploded, chaos broadened, and fuel, medicine, and food were smuggled across the borders. The entire country fell to these gangs that made people's lives miserable. Anyone following developments in Libya can clearly see that the same vile and futile game is now being repeated in both the East and the West. One could even argue that Gaddafi's actions in Libya were also mirrored by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, albeit in an iteration of the British context, which is of course different from Libya's. In other words, regional loyalties replaced partisan commitments in similar ways in Britain. I recall that British journalist Hugo Young was the first to point this out in his book One of Us, which caused quite a stir and won several awards. In post-Gaddafi Libya, history seems to be repeating itself in a dramatic fashion, as we noted earlier. The new political elites chose to follow Gaddafi's path. This is evident in both Cyrenaica and Fezzan and even more so in Tripoli. The government in Tripoli cannot overpower its rivals and take full control. That is why its prime minister recently sought to compensate for its weakness by turning to regional loyalties, allying with armed groups from Misrata. During a visit to the city shortly after Eid al-Adha, he and these factions agreed to cooperate on a joint military campaign to eliminate rogue armed factions in Tripoli. The irony is that the head of Tripoli's government plans to expel armed groups by bringing in other armed groups from outside the city. Pulling Misrata in, through this alliance with some of its militias, will engender animosity between the city and Tripoli. Overcoming the grudges could be impossible. The implicit goal of this operation is, first, to ensure the survival of the Government of National Unity. Second, it aims to generate a state of chaos and instability to prevent the UN from forming a new interim government tasked with organizing parliamentary and presidential elections.
Epoch Times
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Gadhafi's ‘Missing Billions' Stashed in US and Southern Africa, Officials Say
JOHANNESBURG—Billions of dollars stolen by former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are hidden in clandestine bank accounts and secret vaults in the United States and two southern African countries, say intelligence operatives and financial investigators. The latest news was first According to the report, Libya's Asset and Management Recovery Office says at least $50 billion in oil revenues pillaged by Gadhafi between 1994 until his murder in 2011 were invested in 'debt instruments'—including treasury bonds—using front companies, nominees, and banks that Separately, intelligence agents and a former top government official in Pretoria told The Epoch Times about $20 billion stolen by Gadhafi is spread across banks in South Africa. They added that $30 million in cash flown by Gadhafi to South Africa in the months before his execution by rebels is now hidden in Eswatini—the small kingdom neighboring South Africa and the continent's last absolute monarchy that was formerly called Swaziland. The man leading the hunt for Libya's missing public funds, Asset and Management Recovery Office Director-General Mohammed al-Mensli, confirmed that hundreds of billions of dollars were stolen during Gadhafi's brutal military rule. Related Stories 5/24/2025 5/24/2025 Gadhafi came to power in a coup in 1969 and began ruling Libya through fear, and plundering his country's vast natural resources. As chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Gadhafi imprisoned, tortured, and murdered political opponents, and forged close links to global terrorist organizations. Files lodged at the International Criminal Court detail the starvation of entire populations and the bombardment of towns and villages that were home to perceived political opponents. Libyans look at war remnants, including the golden fist that was taken from Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli and transported to Misrata, displayed at a museum set up on Tripoli boulevard in Misrata on Feb.12, 2012. Mahmud Turkia/AFP via Getty Images In 2003, Gadhafi's regime accepted responsibility for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, which killed 259 people, including 190 Americans. He paid nearly $3 billion in compensation to the families of the victims. Yet Gadhafi continued to be revered among left-wing nationalists in Africa as an anti-Western, anti-colonialist, and anti-Israel revolutionary. The United States and its allies Tripoli tried to evade the sanctions by illicitly channelling oil profits to secret locations across the world, al-Mensli told The Epoch Times. He said information he uncovered during his investigation will be used by the Libyan government in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dubaiba 'to lodge legal claims in the U.S. to retrieve stolen public funds in interest-bearing accounts.' Al-Mensli said recovery of the funds would be 'vital to rebuilding' the country, which devolved into another civil war in 2014 until an October 2020 U.N.-led cease-fire agreement. A member of security forces stands behind a weapon, in Tripoli, Libya Feb. 1, 2021. REUTERS/Ayman Al-Sahili News Causing Stir in South Africa News of al-Mensli's investigation has triggered interest in South Africa, where Gadhafi secretly financed the African National Congress (ANC), the party that came to power under Nelson Mandela in 1994 following decades of apartheid white minority rule. One of Gadhafi's greatest admirers was former ANC leader and South African President Jacob Zuma, who is currently facing In 2022, a commission of inquiry Zuma, a Chinese Communist Party and Soviet trained former chief of intelligence for the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), denies all charges and allegations. In the months leading up to Gadhafi's ouster and murder, Zuma and the Libyan ruler met several times. Initially, said Zuma's former top advisor and ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa, the brief for the then-president of Africa's largest economy was to convince Gadhafi to surrender power voluntarily to 'facilitate a peaceful democratic transition' in Libya. But shortly after a meeting with Gadhafi in April 2011, six months before his death at the hands of rebel forces, Zuma 'inexplicably' changed tack, Phosa said. 'He suddenly began insisting that Colonel Gadhafi must remain in power,' Phosa told The Epoch Times. Similar details are contained in Phosa's autobiography, 'Witness to Power,' 'Beginning in 2009, when Gadhafi began to get paranoid about being deposed, I accompanied President Zuma to a number of meetings in a luxury tent near Tripoli,' Phosa said. 'The Colonel promised to donate a lot of money to the ANC, and for Libya to sign military contracts with Mr. Zuma's associates.' The meetings were held under the guise of Gadhafi's chairmanship of the African Union, which lasted from 2009 to 2010, said the ANC stalwart. After civil war broke out in Libya in February 2011, Phosa and Zuma also met with rebel leaders to try to broker peace. 'Those leaders told me they would no longer cooperate in any way with Zuma because he had betrayed them by aligning with Gadhafi,' Phosa said. Two serving and one former South African intelligence agents, speaking anonymously, told The Epoch Times that Zuma also met with Gadhafi a few months before the dictator was executed by rebels in the town of Sirte on Oct. 20, 2011. 'President Zuma offered to fly Colonel Gadhafi to safety in South Africa because the rebel troops were approaching fast,' said one of the operatives. 'Colonel Gadhafi refused and said, 'No; I will die in my own country. If I am captured or killed, please give this money to my loved ones.'' In the months that followed, 'many flights' carrying 'crates of dollars, gold, and diamonds' flew to several locations in South Africa, including a military base near Pretoria, another agent said. 'From there, the loot was transported to Mr. Zuma's compound and hidden in a place that was under the ground,' the agent added. 'Later, when things began to get hot for Mr. Zuma, I hear the cash, etcetera, was moved to Swaziland under the care of the King [Mswati].' Spokespeople for both Zuma and Mswati denied knowledge of the Libyan cash and valuables. South African investigative journalist, Jovial Rantao, has previously presented information similar to that provided by the intelligence operatives. In the Sunday Independent in 2014, Rantao According to the documents, about $30 million dollars in cash, hundreds of tons of gold, and about 6 million carats of diamonds were transported from Tripoli to South Africa in more than 60 flights. 'What could be the world's largest cash pile is stored in palettes at seven heavily guarded warehouses and bunkers in secret locations between Johannesburg and Pretoria,' Rantao wrote, adding that Gadhafi's treasure was guarded by former apartheid-era Special Forces members. He said another 260 billion rands (now worth almost $14.4 billion) was deposited in four commercial banks in South Africa. In April 2019, South Africa's Sunday Times reported that Mswati had confirmed to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that Zuma had transported $30 million dollars to his country. The president's spokesperson would not comment on Ramaphosa's meetings with Mswati.
Iraqi News
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Al-Mandlawi: The Property Restitution Law has done justice to a large segment of Iraqis
The First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Mohsen Al-Mandlawi, confirmed today, Monday, that the Property Restitution Law has done justice to a large segment of Iraqis. A statement from Al-Mandlawi's office, received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), stated that "the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Mohsen Al-Mandlawi, received a number of sheikhs and dignitaries of Khanaqin District in Diyala Governorate, to learn about the conditions of the people of the district, and listen to their needs and concerns in order to overcome them with the concerned authorities." The statement added that "during the meeting, Al-Mandlawi was honored by the sheikhs and dignitaries of Khanaqin, in appreciation of his role in approving the law to return state properties to their owners covered by some decisions of the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council." Al-Mandlawi stressed, according to the statement, that "the Council of Representatives was keen to legislate the law to do justice to a large segment of the Iraqi people, and that it will follow up with the concerned authorities to implement the paragraphs related to restoring the rights that the former regime had taken away as a result of its arbitrary decisions to their rightful owners."
Iraqi News
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Presidency of the Republic ratifies Personal Status, Amnesty, Property Restitution Laws
The Presidency of the Republic ratified, today, Thursday, the Personal Status, General Amnesty and Property Restitution Laws. This came after the Federal Supreme Court decided, the day before yesterday, Tuesday, to reject the appeal submitted against the General Amnesty, Personal Status and Property Restitution Laws, and to cancel the state order to suspend their implementation. The parliament voted in its third session of its first legislative term, the fourth legislative year of the fifth electoral term, on January 21, headed by Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, Speaker of the Council, on three laws. At the beginning of the session, the Council voted in its entirety on the proposal to amend Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959 submitted by the Legal Committee and the Women, Family and Childhood Committees, which came in line with what was stipulated in Article (2) of the Constitution that it is not permissible to enact a law that contradicts the constants of the provisions of Islam and what was stipulated in Article (41) regarding guaranteeing the freedom of individuals to adhere to their personal status according to their religions, sects, beliefs, or choice, and to put that article into effect and organize that freedom within the framework of the law in a way that preserves the courts as a unified judicial body by applying the provisions of the Personal Status Law in accordance with the law. The Council voted in its entirety on the draft law to return real estate to its owners covered by some decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council (dissolved) submitted by the Legal Committee, due to the issuance of many decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council (dissolved) to expropriate lands belonging to citizens and in order to restore rights to their owners and remove the effects resulting from them. The Council also voted in general on the draft law amending the second General Amnesty Law No. (27) of 2016 submitted by the Legal, Security and Defense, and Human Rights Committees, which aims to prevent perpetrators of terrorist crimes and organized crimes from kidnapping people due to the serious criminal behavior it represents and the negative effects it has on the victims or their families and its danger to society, and to reintegrate those covered by the amnesty law into society after rehabilitating them in reform departments and giving them the opportunity to live a decent life.
