In this mailing:
- Raymond Ibrahim: "United Nations, Your Silence is Getting Worse": Extremist Persecution of Christians, September 2018
- Amir Taheri: The Canary in the French Mine
by Raymond Ibrahim • December 16, 2018 at 5:00 am
"[T]wo young masked men entered the pharmacy and dragged my father outside. They told him to kneel in the street. They put two guns at my father's head and told him to convert to Islam. But he shook his head. Then they shot him." — Open Doors, August 23, 2018, Egypt.
"Our father, Bashir Masih, was a sanitary worker," explained the family's son Fiaz Masih. "He built this house a few years back, when he retired from his job; however Muslims could not bear that Christians would live in such a good, big, and furnished house. We are the only Christian family in the neighborhood. They wanted to snatch our property. Therefore, they started threatening us to leave the house otherwise they will [accuse us of] committing blasphemy against Islam." — Pakistan.
"Indonesia had a reputation for an interpretation of Islam that embraced religious tolerance. But Muslim extremists have been urging the adoption of Islamic law throughout Indonesia, creating religious divides." — Voice of America, October 1, 2018.
In Kenya, Islamic terrorists stopped a bus that was traveling to Garissa and murdered two Christians for refusing to convert to Islam. Pictured: A road in Garissa, Kenya. (Image source: Adam H T Geelle/Wikimedia Commons)
The Slaughter of Christians
Central African Republic: As many as 42 people — mostly Christian women — "were hacked to death ... after suspected Islamist rebels attacked a group of civilians in the central town of Bria" between September 4-5. Some died by machete, others by gunshot. At least one of the butchered women was pregnant. "They [Seleka militants] don't want to see any Christians here," one church leader said. "Christians never go to town.... They have barricaded all roads, and if you venture out, you are at your own peril. We Christians have nothing else to do, no food to eat, no place to go. We rely only on prayers. Please pray for us!"
Democratic Republic of Congo: Armed Muslim militants slaughtered as many as 40 people in the Christian town of Beni. According to one report:
by Amir Taheri • December 16, 2018 at 4:00 am
My own unorthodox, and certainly unscientific, diagnosis is that the French, like most other people in rich countries, are simply bored, with a lot of time on their hands and little exciting to do.
Another way is to see the "yellow vests" as the canary in the coal mine. They are telling us that something is wrong in France. Let's find out what.
The current "yellow vests" uprising in France, now in its sixth week, is different from previous protests for a number of reasons. Pictured: Protesters gather at Place de l'Opera on December 15, 2018 in Paris. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Normally, this time of the year, the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris has a festive air with Christmas decorations and happy shoppers looking for last minute presents. This season, however, what the French like to boast about as "the most beautiful avenue in the world" looks more like a war zone. The reason is the phenomenon labeled "les gilets jaunes" or "yellow vests", a movement that started as a protest against an increase in the price of diesel and quickly galumphed towards an all-out attack on the French political system.
At first glance one might say: we have been there, done that and bought the T-shirt!
Setting fire to parked cars and city dustbins, shattering shop windows and looting stores are old tactics of French protest movements, as witnessed on numerous occasions, most recently 2003 and 2005.
However, the current uprising, now in its sixth week, is different from previous protests for a number of reasons.
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