US Reportedly Backed Down on Initial Goals in Iran Talks

FOX NEWS: U.S. negotiators reportedly lowered the bar for their own goals during talks over Iran's nuclear program in response to resistance from the Tehran team. And, on the heels of a framework deal being announced in Switzerland, France's top diplomat on Friday admitted his country had initially held out for firmer terms.

The emerging reports indicate the U.S. team, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, gradually backed down over the course of the talks as Iran's delegation dug in. The Wall Street Journal, citing current and former U.S. representatives at the discussions, claimed the White House had initially hoped to persuade Iran to dismantle much of the country's nuclear infrastructure when talks started in late 2013, only to be told categorically that Iran would not do so. (+ FoxNews video) » | FoxNews.com | Friday, April 03, 2015

'Conspiracy of Silence' about Christianity in Britain Boosting Jihadis – Archbishop

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Young Muslims being ‘seduced’ by lure of martyrdom while politicians ‘fight shy’ of recognising importance of Christianity, says Archbishop of York

A “misplaced sensitivity” towards atheists and followers of other religions has led to a “conspiracy” of silence by politicians of all parties about the Christian roots of British society, the Archbishop of York has claimed.

Dr John Sentamu suggested that the abandonment of strong moral principles, rooted in the Bible, in favour of “vague” notions about values was partly responsible for the radicalisation of Muslim youths who were being “seduced” by the lure of extremism.

He said a youthful “yearning for something more idealistic” was being exploited by groups like the so-called Islamic State (IS), also known as Isil and Isil, who offered a “false utopia” and even the prospect of death.

But government programmes intended to prevent radicalisation are, he said, doomed to fail if they did not offer young people something “worthwhile and exciting” to live for.

His remarks came in a strongly worded Easter message, penned for the Yorkshire Post, hitting out at consumerism and the vagueness of politicians.

It comes just days after David Cameron was criticised by figures on both left and right over an Easter message which made no reference to Jesus and suggested the teachings of Christianity could be summed up as “all about change, responsibility, and doing the right thing”. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Friday, April 03, 2015

Far-right Protest outside Mosque

SOUTH WALES ARGUS: Far-right protesters have clashed with Muslims attending afternoon prayers.

Around 100 members of Britain First and the English Defence League shouted and chanted outside the London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre as hundreds of men, women and children moved inside for prayers.

Some protesters chanted anti-Islamic messages, while others waved banners and placards. » | Press Association | Friday, April 03, 2015

Anti-Islam Ads Featuring Hitler Unveiled on Philadelphia Buses

An anti-Islam ad campaign hitting the streets of Philadelphia this week features Adolf Hitler having a sit-down meeting with "leader of the Muslim world" Haj Amin al-Husseini. The ads were created by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), a New Hampshire-based nonprofit co-founded by conservative pundit Pamela Geller, and will be displayed on 84 public transit…

Muslim Population in Europe to Reach 10% by 2050, New Forecast Shows

THE GUARDIAN: Pew Research study predicts that America’s Muslim population will grow to 2.1% by 2050, and Muslims will exceed Christians worldwide by 2070

Muslims will nearly double their numbers in Europe – to more than 10% – by 2050 and will outnumber Christians worldwide by 2070, according to a new forecast of the growth of religions around the world.

The report, by Pew Research Center, also predicts that Muslims will become the second-largest religious group in the US – at 2.1% – by 2050.

Europe’s Muslim population, boosted by large families and immigration, will nearly double, from less than 6% (43 million people) in 2010 to more than 10% (71 million people) in 2050, the forecast estimates.

The US by 2050 will still have more Christians than any other denomination, according to the report, but they will decline from 77% to 66% of the population.

Although the Muslim population represents a tiny fraction of Americans – about 1% – it is set to grow rapidly over the next four decades. The report predicts Muslim will surpass Jews to become the second-largest religious group in the US by 2050 – while still only representing 2.1% of the whole country. » | Alan Yuhas in New York | Thursday, April 02, 2015

Christianity On Course to Be Minority Religion in UK

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Global study predicts one in nine Britons will be Muslim by 2050 but UK set to become of least religious countries in the world overall

Christians will be a minority in the UK by the middle of his century amid surging growth in atheism and Islam, an authoritative new study charting the future of the world’s religions predicts.

According to projections by the US-based Pew Research Centre, the proportion of the British population identifying themselves as Christian will reduce by almost a third by 2050 to stand at just 45.4 per cent, compared with almost two thirds in 2010.

The number of Muslims in Britain is predicted to more than double to 11.3 per cent, or one in nine of the total population during that time.

But the reports predicts that biggest change in the religious make-up of Britain in the next three and a half decades will be a major expansion in the number of non-religious people.

They would account for just under 39 per cent, challenging Christians as the biggest faith community in the UK. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Thursday, April 02, 2015

Netanyahu to Obama: Iran Deal Threatens Israel's Survival

ARUTZ SHEVA: Netanyahu speaks to President Obama, expresses Israel's "strong opposition" to the framework agreement with Iran.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke to President Barack Obama on Thursday evening and expressed Israel's strong opposition to the framework agreement with Iran which poses a grave danger to Israel, the region and the world, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.

"A deal based on this framework would threaten the survival of Israel,” Netanyahu told Obama, according to the statement.

“Just two days ago, Iran said that ‘the destruction of Israel is non-negotiable,’ and in these fateful days Iran is accelerating the arming of its terror proxies to attack Israel.”

“This deal would legitimize Iran's nuclear program, bolster Iran's economy, and increase Iran's aggression and terror throughout the Middle East and beyond. Such a deal would not block Iran's path to the bomb. It would pave it,” warned Netanyahu. » | Elad Benari | Friday, April 03, 2015

La Suisse applaudit l'accord sur le nucléaire iranien

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Lausanne – Didier Burkhalter a estimé qu'il s'agissait d'une «bonne nouvelle pour la promotion de la paix».

La Suisse se félicite de l'entente entre les grandes puissances et l'Iran sur le programme nucléaire iranien. «Une bonne nouvelle pour cette région du monde et pour la promotion de la paix», a estimé Didier Burkhalter, chef du Département fédéral des affaires étrangères (DFAE).

Cette déclaration commune constitue un pas important vers plus de sécurité dans le monde, une des priorités de la politique étrangère de la Suisse, selon Didier Burkhalter, cité dans un communiqué du DFAE diffusé jeudi soir. «Elle démontre que la solution à de profondes et complexes divergences sur le plan international ne peut être trouvée que par la voie diplomatique.» » | jeudi 02 avril 2015

‘Islam Is a Very Dark Theory’: Yousef, Son of Founding Member of Hamas

Read the Blaze article here

Israeli Officials: Iran Deal an 'Historic Mistake'

ARUTZ SHEVA: Israeli officials say new framework deal with Iran "will make the world far more dangerous." Lapid, Herzog and Livni speak out as well.

Left and right in Israel were on Thursday night united in their opposition to the new framework agreement reached between Iran and six world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Israeli government officials said that the framework deal will be remembered as a "historic mistake".

"If an agreement is reached on the basis of this framework, it is an historic mistake which will make the world far more dangerous," said the officials, briefing journalists on condition of anonymity.

"It is a bad framework which will lead to a bad and dangerous agreement. The framework gives international legitimacy to Iran's nuclear program, the only aim of which is to produce a nuclear bomb," they added. » | Elad Benari | Friday, April 03, 2015

Obama’s Folly in Iran Needs a Page from Reagan’s Playbook

FOX NEWS: President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are negotiating an agreement with Iran that will accelerate a nuclear arms race in a part of the world that has begun a 30-year, fight to the finish, religious war. It is a prescription for disaster.

The administration won’t portray it that way, of course. They will say they have succeeded in slowing down Iran’s program. They will offer the usual Obama straw man argument -- it’s a choice between this deal and war with Iran. And nobody wants another war in the Middle East. » | K. T. McFarland | Wednesday, April 01, 2015

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Lessons in Munich Agreement for Iran Deal

The Western capitulation to Adolf Hitler in the 1938 Munich Agreement is cited as classic appeasement that destroyed Czechoslovakia, backfired on France and Britain, and led to World War II. All of that is true. But there was much more that caused the Munich debacle than simple Western naivete. The full tragedy of that ill-fated agreement…

Iran Militia Chief: Destroying Israel Is ‘Nonnegotiable’

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi also threatens Saudis, saying their fate will be like that of Saddam Hussein

The commander of the Basij militia of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that “erasing Israel off the map” is “nonnegotiable,” according to an Israel Radio report Tuesday.

Militia chief Mohammad Reza Naqdi also threatened Saudi Arabia, saying that the offensive it is leading in Yemen “will have a fate like the fate of Saddam Hussein.”

Naqdi’s comments were made public as Iran and six world powers prepared Tuesday to issue a general statement agreeing to continue nuclear negotiations in a new phase aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord by the end of June. » | Lazar Berman | Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Statement by PM Netanyahu on Lausanne Talks

Boehner: Iran Has 'No Intention' of Keeping Its Word on Nuclear Deal

THE GUARDIAN: Speaker slams Obama, says Iran has ‘never kept their word about anything’ / Promises new sanctions will ‘come quickly’ if no agreement reached

Iran has “no intention” of keeping its word on an agreement being negotiated in Switzerland over its nuclear programme, House speaker John Boehner said on Sunday.

The top Republican’s comments came as negotiations in Lausanne approached the 31 March deadline for the drafting of a framework for a deal, under intense criticism from Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.

Speaking on CNN, Boehner said he had serious doubts about the talks. “We’ve got a regime that’s never quite kept their word about anything,” he said. “I just don’t understand why we would sign an agreement with a group of people who have no intention of keeping their word.”

If there was no agreement, Boehner said he would move “very” quickly to impose new sanctions on Iran.

“The sanctions are going to come and they are going to come quickly,” he said. » | Dominic Rushe in New York | Sunday, March 29, 2015

Bill Maher Laments 'Deeply Stupid' Political Correctness on Far Left

Bill Maher blasted "deeply stupid" far-left liberals on Friday for being too politically correct, criticizing Hollywood elite for its reaction to designers Dolce and Gabbana's comments on "synthetic" children. "What is the point of attacking people who are ninety-five percent on your side?" Mr. Maher asked on his HBO show "Real Time," Mediaite reported Friday. Last…

Rechtspopulist Geert Wilders in Wien: “Freie Ausreise für Jihadisten”

VIENNA ONLINE: Mit einem ungewöhnlichen Lösungsvorschlag für das Problem ausländischer Kämpfer in Syrien und im Irak hat der niederländische Rechtspopulist Geert Wilders am Freitag aufhorchen lassen: Er verstehe nicht, warum westliche Regierungen diese Menschen an der Ausreise hinderten.

“Wenn ein Jihadist gehen will, lasst ihn gehen, aber hindert ihn, daran zurückzukehren”, sagte der Islamkritiker bei einer Pressekonferenz mit FPÖ-Bundesparteiobmann Heinz-Christian Strache in Wien.

Er wolle nicht, dass Jihadisten irgendwo Verbrechen begingen, aber wenn sie es schon tun müssten, “dann ist es mir lieber, die Verbrechen werden in Syrien oder im Irak begangen, als in meinem eigenen Land”, so der Niederländer. » | APA/Red | Freitag 27. März 2015

Salafismus in Deutschland

Der Salafismus ist im 19. Jahrhundert in Ägypten entstanden und eine ultrakonservative Strömung innerhalb des Islams. Geprägt ist die Bewegung von stark intoleranten Zügen, so werden etwa alle Nicht-Salafisten, auch andere Muslime, zu den Ungläubigen gezählt. Der Begriff der "Salafisten" bedeutet - aus dem Arabischen übersetzt - "fromme Altvordere". Welche Gefahr besteht für uns hier in Deutschland, vor was müssen wir uns fürchten?

Gäste: Katharina Fegebank (Grüne Hamburg), Abdullah Uwe Wagishauser (Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat), Usman Naveed Ahmad (Imam aus Hannover) und Petra Loztkat (Amt für Arbeit und Integration in der Sozialbehörde) moderiert von Sami Khokhar.

Diese Sendung wurde am 02. Februar 2015 auf TIDE TV sowie Radio TIDE live ausgestrahlt.

Iran Nuclear Deal Progress: Sudden Thaw in Decade-long Atomic Standoff

It's a bitter stand-off that's lasted a decade, involving sanctions and dozens of marathon talks. And now the US and the EU are on the verge of reaching a deal with Iran, over its nuclear programme.

The Glazov Gang – The Real Meaning of "Allahu Akbar"

Daniel Greenfield (Shillman Fellow, Freedom Center)

HT: Robert Spencer @ Jihad Watch »