Freedom Fighter: One Man's Fight for One Free World

I have just completed reading Freedom Fighter: One Man's Fight for One Free World by Rev. Majed El Shafie, and must commend this book to you to read as well.

I met Majed in Toronto earlier this year, at an event organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) organization, on the topic of religious freedom. His talk sparked an interest in me to further investigate the issue of religious freedom around the world, and decided to read his book as a starting point. I'm glad I did.

Freedom Fighter takes readers on Majed's journey from being persecuted for converting to Christianity from Islam while living in Egypt, to where he is now, acting and speaking up on behalf of persecuted individuals around the world through his non-profit organization One Free World International. (Www.onefreeworldinternational.org)

Focusing primarily on Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the book details disturbing accounts of religious persecution and murder of people of all faiths. In light of recent terror attacks around the world which specifically targeted Christians and non-Muslims, as seen in Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Iraq, the intense and sobering content of the book is highly relevant and worthy of careful review.

Majed is a gifted writer, providing strong, clear arguments for his policy proposals. Critically he has crafted his book in an accessible and logical manner. On issues that often seem to only affect people "over there", somewhere in the Middle East, Majed has managed to bring the violent problem of religious persecution right home to the reader.

Anyone interested in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the issues of religious persecution and religious freedom would do well to pick up Freedom Fighter.

R.O.

Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable missile

Great timing, Pakistan. It's not like there's enough going on in the region. Maybe the North Koreans were watching and taking notes? - R.O.

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Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable missile that could hit deep within IndiaBy John Newland and Fakhar Rehman, NBC News

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan raised its nuclear ante Wednesday by saying it had conducted a successful test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead almost 600 miles, far enough to strike deep within India, its nuclear-armed neighbor.

The Shaheen-1 missile struck its intended target at sea, according to a statement from the Pakistani military.

The missile incorporates a series of technical improvements and has a longer range than its predecessors, the statement said.

Pakistan has an arsenal of at least 90 nuclear warheads and has been quickly increasing the range of its missiles, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Pakistan has the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile.

Meanwhile, India has an estimated 100 nuclear weapons, according to the Arms Control Association, and tensions between the next-door neighbors, which have historically been high, have risen latelywith a conflict over the disputed Kashmir territory.

In August 2012, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna hinted at Pakistan when he mentioned “rampant proliferation in our extended neighborhood” during a speech in New Delhi.

“Nuclear weapons today are an integral part of our national security and will remain so,” Krishna said.

Pakistan, whose foreign ministry has said the country "is mindful of the need to avoid an arms race with India,” said Wednesday that the Shaheen-1 can accurately hit a target up to 560 miles away, compared with 430 miles for the previous version.

Senior military officers, along with scientists and engineers from the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, watched the launch, the government said.

Among those on hand was retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, director general of the country’s Strategic Plans Division, who was quoted by the government as saying the new version of the missile had “consolidated and strengthened Pakistan’s deterrence abilities manifold.”

The Truth about Militant Islam

This is a must watch video for anyone concerned about the ongoing threat posed by al-Qaeda and militant Islam (skip ahead to about the 8 minute mark below if you want to get to the meat of her arguments).

Lara Logan is the CBS News reporter who was sexually assaulted by an Egyptian mob in Cairo's Tahrir Square a year and a half ago. Last week Logan was the keynote speaker at the annual luncheon of the Chicago Better Government Association last week, and she blasted the Obama administration for lying to the American people about the threat that they face from militant Islam. (Courtesy the Israel Matzav blog.) - R.O.

Eleven years later, “they” still hate us, now more than ever, Logan told the crowd. The Taliban and al-Qaida have not been vanquished, she added. They’re coming back.

“I chose this subject because, one, I can’t stand, that there is a major lie being propagated . . .” Logan declared in her native South African accent.

The lie is that America’s military might has tamed the Taliban.

“There is this narrative coming out of Washington for the last two years,” Logan said. It is driven in part by “Taliban apologists,” who claim “they are just the poor moderate, gentler, kinder Taliban,” she added sarcastically. “It’s such nonsense!”

Logan stepped way out of the “objective,” journalistic role. The audience was riveted as she told of plowing through reams of documents, and interviewing John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and a Taliban commander trained by al-Qaida. The Taliban and al-Qaida are teaming up and recruiting new terrorists to do us deadly harm, she reports.

She made a passionate case that our government is downplaying the strength of our enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a rationale of getting us out of the longest war. We have been lulled into believing that the perils are in the past: “You’re not listening to what the people who are fighting you say about this fight. In your arrogance, you think you write the script.”

Our enemies are writing the story, she suggests, and there’s no happy ending for us.

...Logan even called for retribution for the recent terrorist killings of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other officials. The event is a harbinger of our vulnerability, she said. Logan hopes that America will “exact revenge and let the world know that the United States will not be attacked on its own soil. That its ambassadors will not be murdered, and that the United States will not stand by and do nothing about it.”Unfortunately, I was not able to find video of Logan's talk on line. Two other speeches have been posted, but so far Logan's has not. I guess that President Obama still has friends in Chicago.

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.ca/2012/10/video-cbs-reporter-lara-logan-blasts.html