Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

World Leaders to Gather At UN in Shadow of Islamic State, Ebola Crises
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks at a news conference ahead of the 69th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 16, 2014.

(Reuters) - World leaders gather in New York this week to tackle a host of crises: the violence Islamic State militants are wreaking in Iraq and Syria, the exponential spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa and deadlocked negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.

There is little hope the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly will achieve much in the annual five-day marathon of speeches. But on the sidelines, U.S. officials plan to lobby allies for pledges of concrete military assistance to help defeat Islamic State, whose hardline Sunni Islamist fighters have taken over swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said more than 140 heads of state or government will attend the assembly's annual "general debate", which begins on Wednesday and ends Sept. 30. He noted an unusually large number of serious conflicts: in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine.

"The world is facing multiple crises," Ban told reporters.

"All have featured atrocious attacks on civilians, including children," he said. "All have dangerous sectarian, ethnic or tribal dimensions. And many have seen sharp divisions within the international community itself over the response."

U.N. officials and delegates say the top issue for Western and Arab leaders is the rampage of Islamic State militants, who are blamed for a wave of sectarian violence, beheadings and massacres of civilians.

"Together, we will address the horrendous violence in Syria and Iraq, where conflict and governance failures have provided a breeding ground for extremist groups," Ban said.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to use the U.N. podium on Wednesday to call for more countries to join his coalition of more than 40 nations to prevent IS from expanding its territory. The United States has been bombing IS targets in Iraq for the past month but has yet to bomb Syria.

The White House said it was unlikely that Obama would meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani while both are in New York this week. But Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at which they are expected to discuss Iran's atomic program and IS.

On Friday, Kerry told a special meeting of the Security Council that Iran could play a role in helping tackle IS, an apparent shift in the U.S. position. Both Iran and the United States have ruled out military cooperation.

EBOLA OUTBREAK

In addition to speeches by Obama, Rouhani and other high-profile leaders, other important attendees making their U.N. General Assembly debut this week include Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Wednesday, Obama will chair a rare summit meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the problem of foreign fighters. He last chaired a council summit in 2009 on eradicating nuclear weapons.

At Wednesday's meeting, the council plans to adopt a resolution demanding countries "prevent and suppress" recruitment and travel of foreign fighters to join extremist militant groups like IS by ensuring it is a serious criminal offence under domestic laws. Foreign fighters in IS are believed to be the group's cruelest.

U.N. member states will also tackle the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Obama and other leaders will also attend a high-level meeting on the exponentially worsening hemorrhagic fever outbreak that has devastated Liberia, Sierra Leone and other countries in the region.

The meeting comes just after the Security Council declared Ebola a "threat to international peace and security" and established the first-ever U.N. mission dedicated to tackling a public-health threat.

Since the current outbreak was first detected in March, Ebola has infected at least 5,357 people, according to the World Health Organization, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. It has also spread to Senegal and Nigeria. The virus has killed an estimated 2,630 people.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had been due to speak at the General Assembly this week but canceled her trip to New York because of the Ebola crisis.

While the General Assembly speeches are going on, senior foreign ministry officials from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China are meeting in New York with Iranian officials. They will try to break a deadlock in talks aimed at ending sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. Foreign ministers from the six powers may join the talks in the course of the week.

Even though a Nov. 24 deadline for a long-term deal is a mere two months away, diplomats close to the talks say a deal in New York is unlikely.

Just ahead of the General Assembly on Tuesday, U.N. chief Ban will convene a global summit meeting on climate change that aims to set the stage for a major environmental conference in Paris next year. Obama is expected to use the session to highlight strides the United States has made on climate change.

There will also be high-level side meetings on conflicts in Syria, Libya, South Sudan, Ukraine, the Central African Republic, Mali, the Israeli-Palestinian problem, and the U.N. war on poverty.

World Council of Churches Demands Israel Release Terrorists
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Jailed terrorist (illustration)

Flash 90

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is holding its annual "World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel" (WWPPI) this week, calling on Israel to release jailed terrorists - despite the severity of their crimes and the abundance of terrorists immediately returning to terror.

NGO Monitor notes that WCC is a collective of "347 churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories," and in this year's week-long event it will focus on ending the "illegal occupation."

This year's WWPPI, which is organized by the WCC's Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF), is being held under the title "Let My People Go," in an offensive appropriation likening "Palestinian political prisoners" - including jailed terrorists - with the Jewish people leaving Egyptian oppression in Biblical times.

According to the materials for WWPPI, all "political prisoners" should be freed. The ambiguous term is defined as referring to "any Palestinian - resident of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, or Israel - arrested in relation to the occupation."

In short WCC calls for the release of all jailed terrorists, white-washing their crimes. One such terrorist is listed by name in the PIEF dossier: Ayman Sharawna.

As a "political prisoner" being jailed by "the occupation," Sharawna was arrested in 2002 for his role in multiple terrorist attacks, including a bombing in Be’er Sheva that wounded 18 people. He was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal.

Sharawna was rearrested in 2012 after returning to active terrorism with Hamas in Gaza, but was ultimately released again in 2013 after an eight-month hunger strike. After his second release, he publicly announced his return to terror.

And yet WCC lists Sharawna by name as the type of "political prisoner" whose release was an "achievement."

"War crimes"?

The PIEF materials also falsely claim that Israel's administrative detention of terror suspects "violates the Fourth Geneva Convention. It also constitutes a form of torture within a systematic policy which is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and amounts to a war crime and crime against humanity."

NGO Monitor points out that the International Committee of the Red Cross has debunked this interpretation, writing "Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions...contains no provisions regulating internment, i.e. administrative detention for security reasons, apart from the requirement of humane treatment."

Another claim raising eyebrows in PIEF's program booklet, which lacks any citation or reference, is that "since 1967 about 750,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israeli forces."

Such a figure would amount to roughly 16,000 new prisoners each year, a claim PIEF's own booklet disproves by asserting around 3,500 Palestinian Arabs have been arrested each year since 2000.

PIEF, the organizer of WWPPI, writes it was founded "to catalyze and coordinate new and existing church advocacy for peace, aimed at ending the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories in accordance with UN resolutions."

Why the War is Far from Over: Half of Palestinians Support Armed Intifada Against Israel
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

A public opinion poll published on Tuesday showed that half of the Palestinian public supports an armed intifada against Israel.

The poll, published by the Nablus-based An-Najah University, included 1,360 Palestinians (860 from the West Bank and 500 from the Gaza Strip) above the age of 18, was conducted during the period from 11-13 September. It has a margin of error of three percent. 

The poll showed that 49% of respondents favored an armed intifada against Israel as opposed to 44% who said they were against it.

Still, 56% said they supported an unarmed and non-violent resistance against Israel, while 35% expressed their opposition.

The poll found that 57% of respondents expected the eruption of a third intifada in the West Bank. Only 32% said they did not expect such a thing to happen.

According to the results, more than 70% of the respondents believe there will be another military encounter with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Another 84% said they supported the Palestinian Authority effort to join the International Criminal Court. 

The poll also confirmed the results of a previous survey that indicated increased support for Hamas following Operation Protective Edge.

The An-Najah poll showed that if presidential elections were held today, 22% would vote for a Hamas candidate as opposed to 21% who would cast their ballots for a Fatah nominee. More than 17% of respondents said they would not participate in the elections. 

The poll also found that Hamas would receive more votes in a parliamentary election - 23% for Hamas as opposed to 21% for Fatah. 

Asked about the role of the US in the Middle East peace process, an overwhelming majority of 90% of respondents said they viewed the US as being biased in favor of Israel.

The poll showed that 54% of respondents still supported the two-state solution, while 42% are opposed to a one-state solution.

U.S. Says will not Cooperate With Iran on is for Flexibility in Nuclear Talks the United States on
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The United States on Monday rejected a proposal floated by Iranian officials in which Tehran would cooperate in the fight against Islamic State forces in exchange for flexibility on its nuclear program.

Senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants but would like more flexibility on Iran's uranium enrichment program in exchange.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest rejected the Iranian proposal, saying the effort by world powers to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program is "entirely separate" from President Barack Obama's attempts to build a coalition against Islamic State.

U.S. Reportedly Providing Indirect Military Aid to Hezbollah
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

Reuters

Mohammed Afif, the new head of public relations for the Lebanese-based Iranian-backed terror organization Hezbollah, gave a rare New York Times interview as Lebanese experts reveal his group is indirectly receiving American intelligence aid in its fight against Islamic State (ISIS).

Following ISIS's temporary conquest of Arsal last month on the Lebanese side of the Syrian border, the US sent new weapons to the Lebanese army, which coordinates with Hezbollah. Likewise, US intelligence has found its way to Hezbollah according to Lebanese experts.

That leaked intelligence may explain some recent impressive achievements against ISIS, including the first known Hezbollah drone strike.

It is worth noting by contrast to the blasé indirect provision of intelligence and weapons to a terror group in Lebanon, during Operation Protective Edge US President Barack Obama blocked a routine Hellfire missile shipment to Israel and ordered strict supervision on future transfers.

Afif told the American newspaper "we need to open up a new page with the world media, with the Arabs and internationally," hinting at the international legitimacy he hopes to achieve for the terror group under his role as media adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. 

Nasrallah recently expressed his fears of the ISIS "monster," calling the fight with the group "a battle of life and death no less important than fighting the Israeli enemy, as (ISIS) actions and objectives only serve Israel." Indeed Hezbollah has called to wipe out Israel numerous times, and fought terror wars against the Jewish state.

Ali Rizk, a Lebanese analyst at the pro-Hezbollah Al-Mayadeen news channel, told the New York Times that while the US cannot publicly ally with the terrorist organization Hezbollah, "what happens underneath is something totally different."

Justifying the aid, Rizk said "Hezbollah is not representing an imminent threat against the world. It represents a threat against Israel, as Israel represents a threat against Lebanon. But Hezbollah is not going to threaten the US and Europe. Nobody said Hezbollah is cutting off heads."

While Hezbollah may be benefiting indirectly from the US, it remains antagonistic to America over Syria, where it has joined Iran in supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad against the very rebels the US is arming. However, the ISIS threat has indeed raised talk that the US may even join forces with Hezbollah's sponsor Iran.

Afif blamed Americans for causing ISIS by supporting Syrian rebels, saying "this beast which you raised up, as in past cases, you find it’s dangerous for you."

Report: Chinese Militants Get Islamic State 'Terrorist Training'
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

BEIJING - Chinese militants from the western region of Xinjiang have fled from the country to get "terrorist training" from Islamic State fighters for attacks at home, state media reported on Monday.

The report was the first time state-run media had linked militants from Xinjiang, home to ethnic minority Uighur Muslims, to militants of the Islamic State (IS), a radical Sunni Muslim group which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.

China's government has blamed a surge of violence over the past year on Islamist militants from Xinjiang who China says are fighting for an independent state called East Turkestan.

"They not only want to get training in terrorist techniques, but also to expand their connections in international terrorist organizations through actual combat to gain support for escalation of terrorist activities in China," the Global Times cited an unidentified Chinese "anti-terrorism worker" as saying.

In the latest violence in Xinjiang, state media said two people were killed and several injured in at least three explosions on Sunday.

Putin Looking At Cooperation to Fight Islamic State
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed with his Security Council on Monday potential cooperation with other countries on fighting against Islamic State, Russian news agencies cited the Kremlin's spokesman as saying.

Russia, whose ties with Washington are at their lowest since the end of the Cold War, has not yet responded to calls from the United States to build an international coalition to destroy the radical Sunni Muslim group, which has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

"Permanent members of the Security Council exchanged opinions on possible forms of cooperation with other partners on a plan to counter Islamic State in the framework of international law," Interfax quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

He did not say who the other partners were.

Nowhere to Hide As Minority Report - Style Facial Recognition Technology Spreads Across America
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

What is our society going to look like when our faces are being tracked literally everywhere that we go? As part of the FBI's new Next Generation Identification System, a facial recognition database known as the Interstate Photo System will have collected 52 million of our faces by the end of 2015. But that is only a small part of the story. 

According to Edward Snowden, the NSA has been using advanced facial recognition technology for years. In addition, as you will see below, advertising companies are starting to use Minority Report-style face scanners in their billboards and many large corporations see facial recognition technology as a tool that they can use to serve their customers better. Someday soon it may become virtually impossible to go out in public in a major U.S. city without having your face recorded. Is that the kind of society that we want?

To the FBI, this technology does not represent an invasion of privacy. Rather, they are very proud of the fact that they are not going to be so dependent on fingerprinting any longer. The FBI has been developing the Next Generation Identification System for years, and this month it was announced that it is finally fully operational...

The federal government's Next Generation Identification System — a biometric database that relies largely on facial-recognition technology — is now fully operational, the FBI announced Monday.

"This effort is a significant step forward for the criminal justice community in utilizing biometrics as an investigative enabler," the FBI said in a statement.

The latest advance in the technology gives users the ability to receive "ongoing status notifications" about individuals' criminal histories, the FBI said. That means if, for instance, a teacher commits an offense, law enforcement can be immediately informed — and then pass that information on to administrators.

It's to monitor criminal histories of those "in positions of trust," the FBI said.
As part of this new system, every American will eventually be assigned a "Universal Control Number".

Does that sound creepy to you?

Even mainstream news reports are admitting that it sounds like something out of a science fiction movie...

It aims to eventually replace fingerprinting with a complex array of biometrics, assigning everyone with a “Universal Control Number”, in what sounds like a plotline from a sci-fi movie.
And it won't just be the FBI using this database.

According to Fox News, more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies will have access to this information...

More than 18,000 law enforcement agencies and other authorized criminal justice partners across the country will have access to the system 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
So if your face is scanned somewhere or you do something noteworthy that is registered by the system, virtually every law enforcement agency in the country will instantly know about it.

Pretty scary stuff, eh?

But the FBI is actually lagging far behind the NSA.

According to Edward Snowden, the NSA has been using "sophisticated facial recognition programs" for many years...

The National Security Agency is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents.

The spy agency’s reliance on facial recognition technology has grown significantly over the last four years as the agency has turned to new software to exploit the flood of images included in emails, text messages, social media, videoconferences and other communications, the N.S.A. documents reveal. Agency officials believe that technological advances could revolutionize the way that the N.S.A. finds intelligence targets around the world, the documents show.
Do you remember that stuff you saw in the Jason Bourne movies about how the NSA can track people?

Well, most of that stuff is real.

If you don't like it, that is just too bad. At this point not even Congress has much control over what the NSA does.

And there are police departments around the nation that are also way ahead of the FBI.

For example, just check out what has been going on in southern California...

In a single second, law enforcement agents can match a suspect against millions upon millions of profiles in vast detailed databases stored on the cloud. It’s all done using facial recognition, and in Southern California it’s already occurring.

Imagine the police taking a picture: any picture of a person, anywhere, and matching it on the spot in less than a second to a personalized profile, scanning millions upon millions of entries from within vast, intricate databases stored on the cloud.

It’s done with state of the art facial recognition technology, and in Southern California it’s already happening.

At least one law enforcement agency in San Diego is currently using software developed by FaceFirst, a division of nearby Camarillo, California’s Airborne Biometrics Group. It can positively identify anyone, as long as physical data about a person’s facial features is stored somewhere the police can access. Though that pool of potential matches could include millions, the company says that by using the “best available facial recognition algorithms” they can scour that data set in a fraction of a second in order to send authorities all known intelligence about anyone who enters a camera’s field of vision.
Widespread use of facial recognition technology by our law enforcement authorities is becoming a way of life.

If the American people don't like this, they need to stand up and say something.

But instead, in an era of widespread Internet hacking and identity theft, many Americans are actually clamoring for the implementation of more biometric identification.

For instance, the following is a brief excerpt from a Fox News article entitled "Biometric security can’t come soon enough for some people"…

In a world where nearly every ATM now uses an operating system without any technical support, where a bug can force every user of the Internet to change the password to every account they’ve ever owned overnight, where cyber-attacks and identity theft grow more menacing every day, the ability to use your voice, your finger, your face or some combination of the three to log into your e-mail, your social media feed or your checking account allows you to ensure it’s very difficult for someone else to pretend they’re you.
As financial institutions adopt this kind of technology, a day may come when virtually all of us are required to have our faces scanned at the checkout counter.

That may sound crazy to you, but according to the Daily Mail a company in Finland has already launched this technology…

Bank cards are already being replaced by phones and wristbands that have payment technology built-in but the latest threat to the lowly plastic in your pocket could be your face.

A Finnish startup called Uniqul has launched what it calls the first ever payment platform based on facial recognition.

The system doesn’t require a wallet, bank card or phone – instead a camera is positioned at the checkout and takes a photo of a shopper’s face when they are ready to pay.

It then scans a database for the face and matches it to stored payment details in order to complete the transaction.
And advertisers are even more eager to adopt facial recognition technology. In fact, the kind of face scanning billboards that we saw in "Minority Report" are already a reality. For example, a company called Amscreen says that it already has more than 6,000 face scanning digital screens that are being viewed by approximately 50 million people each week...

Advertising network Amscreen recently launched a unique face-detection technology, originally developed by automated audience measurement firm Quividi.

Cameras have been installed in Amscreen’s digital advertising displays that can scan a person’s face and determine their gender, age, date, time and volume of the viewers.

This is so adverts are served to the most appropriate audience.

Amscreen already has over 6,000 digital screens seen by a weekly audience of over 50 million people.
Even dating websites are starting to use facial recognition technology at this point.

Just check out what Match.com has been doing...

Popular dating site Match.com will use photos of users’ exes to determine which type of look they’re attracted to in order to find them a dating match.

The dating site has partnered with Three Day Rule, a Los Angeles-based matchmaking service, which has dating experts that act as personal dating concierges who hand-select and personally meet every potential match before making a formal introduction to clients, Mashable reports.

Members of Match.com will be able to upgrade to Three Day Rule’s premium service which will ask users to send pictures of exes to determine the type of look they’re attracted to. Three Day Rule will then use facial-recognition technology in an effort to help users find dates.
Our world is changing at a faster pace than ever before.

Powerful new technologies are literally being introduced every single day now, and the future is probably going to look far different than any of us are imagining.

But with all of this new technology, will we end up losing what little personal privacy that we have left?

More Than 130,000 Syrian Kurds Fleeing Islamic State Crossed Into Turkey, Official Says
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

ISTANBUL - More than 130,000 Syrian Kurds fleeing an advance by Islamic State militants have crossed into Turkey in the past three days and the authorities are preparing for more, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday.

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Catholic Cardinal McCarrick Embraces Islam
“In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate,” McCarrick said as he introduced himself to the audience at a meeting arranged by the Muslim Public Affairs Council. That praise of the Islamic deity is an important phrase in Islam, is found more than 100 times in the Koran, and is akin to the Catholic prayer, ”In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” McCarrick next claimed that “Catholic social teaching is based on the dignity of the human person… [and] as you study the holy Koran, as you study Islam, basically, this is what Muhammad the prophet, peace be upon him, has been teaching.”  

NASA says Maven spacecraft enters orbit around Mars
NASA said late Sunday that the robotic explorer had fired its brakes and slipped into orbit, successfully completing the first part of its $671 million mission.  

Russia to fully renew nuclear forces by 2020 – official
"The formation of the technical basis for strategic nuclear forces is going at a faster rate, and in fact, we will renew not 70 percent of the SNF, but 100 percent," Rogozin told Rossiya TV channel.  

US admits there is a much scarier terrorist group than ISIS
Very little information is being released at the moment by anyone within American intelligence circles, but the group calling itself Khorasan is said by officials to have concrete plans for striking targets in the United States and Europe as a chosen modus operandi – more so than the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as ISIS.  

Obama Declines Invitation to Attend Memorial Dedication for Disabled Veterans
Obama declined the invitation, making him the first president in recent history not to formally accept a new national memorial. Organizers of the event were caught off guard when informed by the White House of the president’s decision this week and are hoping to receive an explanation from the White House as to why Obama will not be attending the ceremony..The 5th of October falls on a Sunday - which is typically a day this president likes to golf.  

Sierra Leone Ends Ebola Lockdown, Expects Rise in Cases
Officials in Sierra Leone said the number of reported Ebola cases and deaths there are expected to rise, as the country ends a three-day lockdown aimed at stopping the worst-ever outbreak of the disease.  

Are Jews losing their story?
What I'm referring to instead are the fascinating stories of the "in-between" period — the 18 centuries of Diaspora history between the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 and the beginning of the Holocaust. When's the last time we heard any of those stories? Seriously, where did those 1,869 years go? How did they become the big, black hole of mainstream Jewish learning?  

Alaska Physician Shuts Down Practice, Citing Obamacare
“It is an unsustainable system,” Dr. Wennen wrote to his customers in a letter obtained by The Daily Caller. “I am personally writing off upwards of three quarters of a million dollars annually in free/uncompensated care.” “My reasons for closing down the office are simply economic,” Wennen wrote. “The governmental agencies that are supplying ‘medical insurance’ to the elderly, the disadvantaged, the indigent and the sick, injured, or disabled have placed an unrealistically low value of worth on physician’s services.”  

Is ISIS Trying to Assassinate Pope Francis?
"What has been declared by the self-declared Islamic State is clear – they want to kill the pope. The threats against the Pope are credible," Al Sadr said. "I believe they could try to kill him during one of his overseas trips or even in Rome.  

Pope, on trip to mainly Muslim Albania, condemns Islamist militants
Pope Francis, in his strongest criticism of Islamist militants to date, said on Sunday no religious group which used violence and oppression could claim to be "the armor of God".  

Iran seeks give and take on Islamic State militants, nuclear program
Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants, but would like more flexibility on Iran's uranium enrichment program in exchange, senior Iranian officials told Reuters.  

Egyptian Frogmen Captured U.S. Battleship Commander in 2013
Egyptian frogmen, under the command of the hero, Vice Admiral Mohab Mamish – Until now, nobody knows what this man did! They dove under the American battleships, and when they surfaced, they captured the captain of one of the U.S. battleships. At that moment, a great Egyptian general, whose name I will not mention, but who is a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, called Obama and said: "We do not seek an escalation, but if you want one – you got it." The general conveyed Al-Sisi's message: "The Sixth Fleet must leave Egyptian territorial waters immediately, or else we will tell the whole world what we did."  

CO-ROTATING INTERACTION REGION
NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Sept. 23-24 when a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. CIRs are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving solar wind streams.  

Magnitude 2.5 quake hits Monroe County, Knoxville, Tenn.
The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 2.5 earthquake occurred in Monroe County Saturday night. According to WATE-TV (http://bit.ly/XUf8SA), the quake happened about three miles northeast of Sweetwater around 8 p.m.  

Stable Activity at Eruption Site after Big Quake
A 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit the Bárðarbunga caldera at noon yesterday, which is one of the biggest quakes to have hit the area since increased seismic activity was first recorded there on August 16.  

Turkey clamps down on Syria border after Kurdish unrest
Turkey has begun to close some of its border crossings with Syria after about 130,000 Kurdish refugees entered the country over the weekend. On Sunday Turkish security forces clashed with Kurds protesting in solidarity with the refugees. Some protesters were reportedly trying to go to Syria to fight Islamic State (IS). Most refugees are from Kobane, a town threatened by the advancing militants.  

Tony Abbott: 'Security may come before some freedoms'
Australian PM Tony Abbott says certain freedoms may have to be forfeited in the name of security, after major anti-terror raids last week. His government would seek broad powers to fight the rising threat of militant Islamists, he told parliament. New laws would criminalise travel to conflict areas declared off limits.  

Mexico's Sonora state reports new mine spill
The Mexican authorities have issued a new alert about a toxic spill into a river from a copper mine run by the mining giant Grupo Mexico. Officials in the northern state of Sonora asked people not to use water from the Bacanuchi river after an orange stain appeared in it. On 7 August gallons of sulphuric acid poured into the river.  

Europe needs new stimulus to ward off crisis, US treasury warns
European governments need to "boost demand" in order to reduce unemployment and avoid deflation, the US Treasury secretary has told the G20 group. Speaking after the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Australia on Sunday (21 September), Treasury secretary Jack Lew said that there was "an intensified call for boosting domestic demand in Europe".  

'The Syrian war is not our conflict, but we are preparing for day this changes'
The Syrian war that has been raging since 2011 is “not ours, but we are preparing ourselves for the day the situation will change,” a senior IDF officer, based on the Golan Heights, said on Sunday. Israel can deploy major firepower to the area, including air force and artillery, if needed “within minutes,” the source – from the 210th territorial Habashan Division – said.  

Islamic State takes aim at Egypt through Sinai terror group
Islamic State called on insurgents in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Monday to press ahead with attacks against Egyptian security forces and continue beheadings, an announcement likely to deepen concerns over ties between the militant groups. "Rig the roads with explosives for them. Attack their bases. Raid their homes. Cut off their heads. Do not let them feel secure," IS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in a statement released online.  

Panetta says US paying the price for not arming Syrian rebels
Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Sunday that he believes the Islamic State terror group was able to flourish in part because the U.S. entered the conflict in Syria too late, saying the Obama administration should have armed the country’s moderate rebels earlier.  

Yemen government signs peace agreement with Shiite rebels
Yemeni government officials and Shiite rebels signed a peace agreement on Sunday following days of violence that left more than 140 people dead and sent thousands fleeing their homes, state media said, although major rebel advances earlier in the day deepened a sense of uncertainty in the country.  

World leaders to gather at U.N. in shadow of Islamic State, Ebola crises
World leaders gather in New York this week to tackle a host of crises: the violence Islamic State militants are wreaking in Iraq and Syria, the exponential spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa and deadlocked negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.  

32 structures destroyed in California wildfire
Light rain and cooler temperatures helped firefighters makes advances Sunday against a huge Northern California wildfire that has destroyed nearly three-dozen structures.  

Chinese warships in first call at an Iran port
Two Chinese destroyers have arrived at Iran's Gulf port of Bandar Abbas, in an unprecedented visit attesting to a new rapprochement between the two countries, Iranian media reported Sunday. The four-day visit is the first time a Chinese naval vessel has called at a port in the Islamic republic, across the Gulf from Bahrain where the US Fifth Fleet is based.  

ISIS Lashes Out at Kerry “The Uncircumcised Old Geezer” in Latest Audio Release
Here is the English translation to the latest speech by al-Adnani. They call John Kerry “the old uncircumcised geezer” and Obama “the mule of the Jews” and take on his lecturing on Islam:  

More US troops in Ebola-hit Liberia: airport source
A second deployment of United States troops arrived in Liberia on Sunday as part of an eventual mission of 3,000 soldiers helping its beleaguered health services battle the Ebola outbreak.  

Islamic State Tells Followers to Attack U.S., French Citizens - Website
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

BAGHDAD - Islamic State has urged its followers to attack citizens of the United States, France and other allies who have joined a coalition to fight the militant group, the SITE monitoring website said on Monday.

The United States is building an international coalition to destroy the radical Sunni Muslim group, which has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and proclaimed a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.

US and French warplanes have struck Islamic State targets in Iraq and on Sunday the United States said other countries had indicated a willingness to join it if it goes ahead with air strikes against the group in Syria too.

Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said the military intervention by the US-led coalition would be the "final campaign of the crusaders", according to a transcript published by SITE.

"It will be broken and defeated, just as all your previous campaigns were broken and defeated," he said in the statement, which urged followers to attack US, French, Canadian, Australian and other nationals.

Islamic State Calls for More Attacks on Egyptian Security Forces
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

CAIRO - Islamic State called on insurgents in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Monday to press ahead with attacks against Egyptian security forces and continue beheadings, an announcement likely to deepen concerns over ties between the militant groups.

"Rig the roads with explosives for them. Attack their bases. Raid their homes. Cut off their heads. Do not let them feel secure," IS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in a statement released online.

ISIS Booby - Trapping Roads and Using Yazidi Women Captives in Face of Western Air Strikes
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Vancourver Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

IS' Apocalyptic Magazine Vows to Attack Israel, U.S. Troops As Its Contquests
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is vowing to attack Israel over its most-recent conflict with Hamas, and to fight against U.S. troops and the anti-Christ as it conquers Persia and Rome.

"As for the massacres taking place in Gaza against the Muslim men, women and children, the Islamic State will do everything within its means to continue striking down every apostate who stands as an obstacle on its path toward Palestine," reads an entry in the publication Dabiq, which has been distributed in numerous languages, including English.

"[The Islamic State's] actions speak louder than its words and it is only a matter of time and patience before it reaches Palestine to fight the barbaric Jews and kill those of them hiding behind the gharqad trees — the trees of the Jews," the terror group threatens in Dabiq.

The magazine was named for a town believed to be where Muslims and Westerners will clash before the apocalypse, with the second issue focused on the story of Noah's flood.

It also includes photos and reports about actions being taken against Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq, with its final page promising future conquests by ISIS.

"You will invade the Arabian Peninsula and Allah will enable you to conquer it. You will then invade Persia, and Allah will enable you to conquer it," read the back cover.

"You will then invade Rome and Allah will enable you to conquer it. Then you will fight the Dajjal [Anti-Christ], and Allah will enable you to conquer him."

An offshoot of al-Qaeda, ISIS has garnered international attention for its military victories and extreme violence against civilians and religious minorities.

The extremist Islamic organization holds territory in both war-torn Syria and Iraq, with substantial funds being generated from oil sold on the black market and private donations.

Many have noted that ISIS has used social media and the Internet to reach out to young Muslims, both in the Middle East and Western countries.

Josh Kovensky of the New Republic wrote that ISIS might have already replaced al-Qaida "as the go-to organization for young jihadists."

"ISIS's tactics span all media, with devoted Twitter accounts and YouTube channels, including ones that showed the horrifying — and slickly shot — execution of photojournalist James Foley," wrote Kovensky. " … much of Dabiq's content focuses on a coming apocalypse, while pulling out the same glossy stops that one would expect from an American magazine."

In addition to the written publication, ISIS also released a video Tuesday warning the U.S. of future attacks against U.S. forces due to President Barack Obama's promise to "degrade and destroy" the terror group.

"The 52-second clip — the latest in a long line of well-produced propaganda videos — features slow-motion explosions and clips of attacks previously carried out against U.S. forces," noted NBC News. 

"Images of Obama and then the White House at dark flicker and flames appear to engulf U.S. troops. 'Flames of War: Fighting Has Just Begun' flashes on the screen, before it ends with the words 'Coming Soon.'"

France Says No to Air Strikes in Syria
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Monday his nation would not launch air strikes against Islamic State militants based in Syria despite having bombed a suspected target of the group in northern Iraq last week.

France is the first nation to join the United States in launching military action against IS, which has forced Kurdish refugees to flee over the border into Turkey.

Asked why France would send jets to bomb a target near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and not do the same against IS in Syria, Fabius said his government acted at the behest of Baghdad to provide air protection.

"We have decided to say yes according to the Article 51 of the UN charter and President Hollande ordered air strike, which has taken place a few days ago," Fabius said, answering questions at the Council on Foreign Relations

Chrislam Returns As Catholic Cardinal Embraces Islam
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;One World Church

Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick offered Islamic religious phrases and insisted that Islam shares foundational rules with Christianity, during a Sept. 10 press conference in D.C.

“In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate,” McCarrick said as he introduced himself to the audience at a meeting arranged by the Muslim Public Affairs Council. That praise of the Islamic deity is an important phrase in Islam, is found more than 100 times in the Koran, and is akin to the Catholic prayer, ”In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

McCarrick next claimed that “Catholic social teaching is based on the dignity of the human person… [and] as you study the holy Koran, as you study Islam, basically, this is what Muhammad the prophet, peace be upon him, has been teaching.”

McCarrick was 71 when 19 Muslims brought Islam to the public eye by murdering 3,000 Americans on 9/11. He is one of the 213 Cardinals of the Catholic church, but is too old to vote in church debates.

“Either the cardinal has studied the whole thing and does not know what he’s talking about, or he is making a somewhat misleading statement,” said Michael Meunier, head of the U.S. Copts Association. “The practice of the Muslim majority people that adhere to the Koran… have proven that [claim of equivalence] is not correct,” he told The Daily Caller during a Sept. 11 trip to Jordan.

“Has Cardinal McCarrick converted to Islam?” asked a scornful critic, Robert Spencer, the best-selling author of many books on Islam.

“‘Peace be upon him’ is a phrase Muslims utter after they say the name of [their reputed] prophet… [so] probably he is unaware of the unintended Islamic confession of faith he has just made,”said Spencer, who runs the Jihadwatch.org website.

McCarrick is wrong to say “that Islam teaches the dignity of every human person,“ Spencer said. “Actually, it teaches a sharp dichotomy between the Muslims, [who are called] ‘the best of people’ and the unbelievers [are called] ‘the most vile of created beings,’” Spencer told TheDC.

“The Koran also says: ‘Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are merciful to one another, harsh to the unbelievers,’” Spencer said.

The same warning came from Archbishop Amel Nona, who was head of Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul in Iraq. In a August comment made to Europeans, he said that “You think all men are equal, but that is not true: Islam does not say that all men are equal [and] your values are not their values.”

“If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the [immigrant] enemy you have welcomed in your home,” said Nona, who is now exiled — along with surviving Chaldean Catholics — in the Kurdish city of Erbil.

Islamic societies have routinely persecuted non-Muslims, including Christian Armenians in Turkey and Christian Copts in Egypt, said Taniel Koushakjian, a spokesman for the Armenian Assembly of America

During the First World War, more that 1.5 million Armenians were deliberately killed by Turkey’s Islamic government, he said.

In Egypt, Copts “seem to bear the brunt of the persecution… [which] comes from the religious divide [and] is an interpretation of the theology in which people who are not of the same [Islamic] belief are cast out as infidels, as unrighteous,” he said.

The Islamic Society of North America says Islam “recognize[s] plurality in human societies, including religious plurality.” The section of the Koran that endorses plurality, it is claimed, include verses 10:19, 11:118 and 11.19.

“Mankind was not but one community [united in religion], but [then] they differed. And if not for a word that preceded from your Lord, it would have been judged between them [immediately] concerning that over which they differ,” says verse 10:19, which ISNA says shows Islam’s tolerance for other religions — chiefly, Judaism and Christianity — that supposedly split off from Islam at least 2,000 years ago.

The Koran has some welcoming messages, but they’re from Islam’s early period, Meunier said. “When Islam became strong and had a strong army, the tougher verses came down from heaven — apparently — and according to Islamic teaching, those later verses abrogate the earlier verses [so] moderate Muslims have an uphill battle saying Islam is tolerant.”

“We have to encourage moderate Muslims to present a more moderate version of Islam and the Koran,” but they’re outgunned by Saudi clerics who have used petrodollars to make Islam tougher and less tolerant, he said.

But the Saudi clerics “won’t do it [because] they don’t believe in it,” he added.

For Muslims, the Koran is the unimpeachable transcript of commands from Allah, the single and all-powerful deity. Muslims believe that the Koran was dictated by an angel to Islam’s final prophet, Mohammad, 1,400 years ago. This rigidity sharply constrains Muslims’ use of alternative ideas, including elements of Christianity, or secular ethics and philosophy.

The Koran also include many passage urging the use of violence. “The penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land,” says Verse 33 of the Koran’s fifth book.

In contrast, the Christian Bible, including the almost-2,000 year-old New Testament, is based on the statements of witnesses. For example, Matthew the disciple provide the main account of the Beatitudes sermon, which includes the famous lines, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.”

The Christians’ reliance on witnesses allowed perpetual debate over the meaning and purpose of words from the twinned deity of Jesus and God. It also spurred a Christian search for evidence of God via the “natural sciences,” which gradually evolved into science. Christianity also endorsed separate roles for church and state, where Islam assumes that states’ laws and personal behavior comply with Koranic rules.

McCarrick, however, blended the two distinct religions in his comments at the press club.

“We are together on this against evil, we are against killing, we are against destruction… God bless you in this work you do,” McCarrick said to the Muslim speakers, which included representatives from one group — the Islamic Society of North America — that was implicated in a conspiracy to smuggle funds to the Hamas terror group that recently launched another bombardment of thousands of rockets at Israeli Jews.

“We believe that Islam is a religion which helps people, not kills them… the Muslim community has always taught this,” McCarrick said.

“I’m privileged to be able to lend my voice to the voice of many of my friends here,” he said about the Sept. 10 meeting, which was designed to help U.S.-based Islamic groups avoid the public disgust with The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Since early this year, the Islamic State group has killed and murdered thousands of Iraqis that don’t accept rule by the brutal Salafi variant of Islam. The victims include Shia Muslims, Christians and adherents of the pre-Christian Yazidi religion. Tens of thousands of non-Muslims have also been driven from their homes and fields.

McCarrick, however, downplayed ISIS’s attack on Christians in Iraq, and expressed more concerns for Muslim victims of ISIS attacks. “The truth of the matter is in these terrible massacres of the Islamic state, most of the victims have been Muslims, most of them have not been Christians,” he told his Sept. 10 audience.

“Many Christians, obviously, have suffered, so I am here to say that we stand with our brothers and sisters in the Muslim community, who here in the United States have been giving leadership in a very strong way,” he declared.

“They are proud to be Americans… they love America,” he said, without retuning to discuss the fate of his fellow Christians under Muslim rule.

Spencer urged McCarrick to challenge his Muslim hosts.

“Cardinal McCarrick, rather than indulge in this fond and ignorant wishful thinking, would have done better to have challenged his Muslim friends to match their lofty words with real action to combat the Islamic State and other Muslim persecutors of Christians,” Spencer said.

McCarrick should have “asked them to institute programs in mosques and Islamic schools to teach against the literal meaning of the verses I quoted above and others like them, so that they no longer incite Muslims to violence,” in the U.S. or abroad, Spencer said.

China and Iran to Conduct Joint Naval Drills in the Persian Gulf
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Age
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Practice: A Chinese guided-missile destroyer takes part in a navy exercise at the East China Sea off Shanghai in May. Photo: AP

Tehran, Iran: Two Chinese warships have docked at Iran's principal naval port for the first time in history, Iranian admirals told state television on Sunday, adding that the countries would conduct four days of joint naval exercises.

On Sunday, Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, reported that on Saturday, Chinese navy ships involved in protecting shipping in the Gulf of Aden stopped at an Iranian port for a "friendly visit". One of the vessels was the Changchun, a guided-missile destroyer, the report said.

The news agency posted images of one of the destroyers docking in the port of Bandar Abbas, where it was given a military welcome.

The Iranian and Chinese navies are scheduled to conduct joint exercises, starting on Monday, focusing on rescue missions, Iranian news media reported. China has been expanding the areas where its navy operates, most recently joining the effort to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia.

The visit to the port of Bandar Abbas is an example of the growing ties between China and Iran. China is already the principal buyer of Iranian oil, and Iran uses much of the profit from those sales to buy Chinese products, deals complicated by the international sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.

A Chinese fleet commander, Rear Admiral Huang Xinjian, said the visit was intended to "deepen mutual understanding and to enhance exchanges between our two countries' navies".

"I'm sure that this visit will encourage the constant advancement of friendly co-operation between our two countries' navies," he added.

His Iranian counterparts said there would be drills focused on safety at sea and fighting piracy.

"Discussing and studying the two countries' naval relief and rescue operations and drills, confronting sea incidents and accidents and gaining the necessary technical preparedness are among the exercises to be practised with the Chinese navy forces," Admiral Amir Hossein Azad, commander of Iran's First Naval Zone, said.

Bees Outsmart Scientists
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsFriday Church News Notes,, www.wayoflife.org
Categories: Creation - Evolution;Contemporary Issues

The following is from www.creationmoments.com, Jan. 2, 2014: "Scientists have long recognized that bees are intelligent creatures. At the same time, they believe that this intelligence is the product of millions of years of natural selection. The extremely fast learning ability of the bee either puts in doubt the millions of years or shows the hand of the Creator. Researchers at Princeton University decided to find out whether bees were smart enough to find their food source if it was moved. The researchers moved the prime food source 50 meters farther away from the hive. They found that it took the bees less than one minute to locate the moved source. Being precise scientists, they then moved the food source another 50 meters away. The bees still took less than a minute to find the food source. Two more moves, each a precise 50 meters, produced the same results. However, the bees had also been studying the researchers. Before the researchers could finish moving the food source yet another 50 meters, they found that the bees had discovered the pattern and were already waiting at the new location! God is our Creator, and He has cleverly left the evidence of His handiwork--His fingerprints, if you will--in the creation itself. For those who have eyes to see, this fills us with wonder and, yes, with love for the Creator God who first loved us."

Australia Joins U.S. Airstrike Campaign on ISIS in Iraq
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Member of Islamic state

Reuters

Australian warplanes are being deployed to the Middle East to join the US-led campaign of air strikes on jihadist targets in northern Iraq, Defense Minister David Johnston said on Monday.

"We will provide a number of military platforms, up to eight Super Hornet aircraft to participate in a US-led coalition in delivering air strikes," he told reporters in Baghdad after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on September 14 that Australia would send fighter jets and forces to the United Arab Emirates as its contribution to the US-led military effort against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization.

"We are in the process of deploying them to the Middle East," Johnston said Tuesday, adding however that more preparation work was needed before the Australian jets were brought into action.

"We are some distance from the start of that now, we need to deal with a few technical matters with respect to operations," said Johnston.

The deployment also includes an E-7 Wedgetail early warning and control aircraft and an aerial refueling tanker aircraft, as well as special forces who will act as military advisers.

The announcement comes after Australian police last week foiled an alleged plot by IS jihadists to conduct "demonstration killings" in the country, including randomly beheading members of the public, and after IS threatened Australian civilians in a video message earlier Monday. 

IS is active in swathes of Iraq and Syria but Abbott has said Canberra had no plans to intervene in the latter country.

According to the Pentagon, US aircraft have carried out 178 air strikes against IS targets in Iraq since August 8. France has since joined the campaign and launched its own strikes.

During his meeting with Johnston, Abadi reaffirmed his "rejection of any ground intervention in Iraq," his office said.

Returning jihadists

Washington has repeatedly asserted that it would not deploy ground troops to the country in which its forces fought a bloody and costly war before withdrawing at the end of 2011.

Australia was one of the four countries - together with the United States, Britain and Poland - that invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.

Footage of the beheading of foreign hostages, mass executions of Syrians and Iraqis and the scale of the humanitarian disaster caused by IS has shocked the West.

There was particular revulsion in Australia last month over a picture of what is believed to be the young son of an Australian man holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier by the hair.

Thousands of foreigners have joined the ranks of IS, which declared a "caliphate" over parts of Iraq and Syria and is widely regarded as the most violent and powerful organization in modern jihad.

Johnston said there are "approximately 65" Australians fighting with the jihadists in Syria.

Abbas Says will not Visit Gaza Until Hamas Cedes Power
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday evening that he will not visit the Gaza Strip until Hamas hands control over to the PA.

5 Reasons Why the U.S. Coalition Against ISIS is An Empty Shell
Sep 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

As U.S. jets pounded Islamic State positions north of Baghdad this week, diplomats pondered their options in Paris. U.S. President Barack Obama has stressed the importance of a collaborative global effort to combat the Islamic State (commonly known as ISIS and ISIL) which has been rampaging across much of Iraq and Syria, slaughtering as they go.

The president said, “American military power is unmatched, but this can't be America's fight alone.” He want to build an international coalition which will come together to “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State. But based on the reactions of international leaders, he has yet to receive any concrete commitments to take an active part in the military campaign against the Islamic State.

Representatives from 26 countries attended a conference in Paris on Monday to discuss the planned coalition. The conference included diplomats from Western counties, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada as well as the EU representative. Arab countries including Iraq itself Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE attended, as did the Arab League representative. The presence of Russia, China and the United Nations underscored the global nature of the threat posed by the Islamic State.

The representatives issued a joint, 10-point statement condemning the Islamic State, expressing their full support for the new Iraqi government and their grave concern at the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Iraq. They also committed themselves to joining “appropriate military action” in support of the Iraqi government.

For all this activity, there has been remarkably little offered in the way of concrete support. Here are five reasons why forming a committed coalition willing to donate troops has proven so difficult:

1. Arabs and Muslims Do Not Trust America

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in an effort to build much-needed support for the coalition among the U.S.’s key regional allies. Although he reported encouraging conversations, none of these three counties agreed to commit troops. Leaked reports from an anonymous Western diplomatic source said “there is a very real possibility that we could have the Saudi air force bombing targets inside Syria.” However, no such possibility has yet been made public.

Arab and Muslim nations regard Western policy, in general, and American policy, in particular, with great suspicion. One commentator on Al-Arabiya called the coalition “late, weak and badly planned” but still “better than nothing.” Middle East analyst Khaled Abu Toameh writing for the Gatestone Institute said that most reactions from Arab Muslims on joining the US led coalition against the ISIS was that, “This is not our war and we should not be fighting it.” 

They regard Obama’s foreign policy as vacillating and unreliable and not truly committed to the fight. They also blame America for creating the situation that led to the rise of the Islamic State in the first place, because of the 2003 Iraq war and the support for Nouri al-Maliki's divisive government in the aftermath of that conflict.

In addition, Egypt’s government regards the U. S. as a Muslim Brotherhood ally that is not committed to fighting Islamists. Toameh argues that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will never forgive Obama for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. 

2. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar Actively Support Jihadists

Saudi and Turkey are both Islamist states with much to lose by being associated with an American-led coalition to destroy the Islamic State. Saudi Arabia is worried about an internal uprising should it pursue an alliance with America against a group fighting for a very similar brand of Salafi Islam to its own state-sponsored Wahhabism.

Thousands of Saudis are serving in the Islamic State in all sorts of positions, and the Saudis have arrested recruiters for the Islamic State within its borders.

Turkey is slightly different, having been far more active in aiding the Islamic Sate and Sunni jihadists. Turkey's porous border with Syria serves as a conduit for fighters, supplies and money headed to serve the needs of the self-declared caliphate.

Oil from the Islamic State is smuggled the other way, from Syria into Turkey. A former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey said in the Wall Street Journal that Turkey is a “non-ally” that has been funding and arming Jabhat al-Nusra. Erdogan has stated that Turkey will provide only logistical and humanitarian support against the Islamic State and take no aggressive action whatsoever.

3. Conflicting Loyalties in the Syrian Civil War Make Unity Difficult

Assad has been an ally of Russia for years, to a large extent due to the Russian naval base at Latakia. Russia will not join any U.S.-led coalition without the involvement or support of Assad. Sunni and Western allies, on the other hand, will not be part of any coalition that does support Assad. Public opinion and government policy prohibit any action in Syria that could inadvertently help President Bashar al-Assad. Obama’s promise to arm the moderates leads to the question of who exactly those moderates are. 

The majority of the forces aligned under the banner of the Free Syrian Army have been destroyed or have defected to other groups. The remnants openly cooperate with Islamist factions such as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic Front. Finding an existing non-Islamist rebel army to support at this stage will be very hard.

4. The EU Does Not Want to Get Involved

Western countries other than America are perfectly happy for America to bear the lion’s share of the cost, trouble and fallout for any Western involvement. Feared backlash from Muslim populations are part of the reason why European countries do not want to get involved in what is now a regional Middle Eastern war.

France and Britain, in particular, have large Muslim minorities and have had serious problems with home-grown terrorism in the past. Europe is in the grip of austerity measures, and there is intense domestic pressure to reduce spending. France’s budget is already triple what the government predicted it would be, and thus has little appetite for further expenditures.

Britain is still scarred by the war in Iraq, which faced fierce opposition. Any attempt by Prime Minister David Cameron to put “boots on the ground” will face accusations of pandering to American adventurism. Furthermore the British parliament voted against conducting airstrikes against the Assad regime last year in a stunning rejection of the idea of liberal interventionism.

It is symptomatic of a viewpoint increasingly common – that the current Middle East conflict, however terrible, is none of Europe’s business and that involvement in any capacity will only make things worse. This attitude was succinctly summed up by Guardian columnist Giles Fraser, who wrote, “We are witnessing a shift in the political tectonic plates throughout the whole of the Middle East and beyond into Africa, and the west’s apparently surgical involvement will probably do little more than generate some short-term satisfaction that we are doing something. 

It is not that I am morally squeamish about bombing IS fanatics. Rather, I think we ought to recognise that we are little more than bystanders to a war that is so much bigger than we ever imagined, and so much more complicated than the rhetoric of terrorism or limited conflict allows.”

5. No One Wants to Risk Their Own Soldiers

France has agreed to join U.S.-led airstrikes, but not to send ground troops. The UK may join airstrikes but may not. It certainly will not be sending ground troops. The only country so far to commit openly to sending troops is Australia which has already begun sending 600 soldiers to Iraq. They will be performing a variety of roles including logistical support, providing strategic and military advice assisting in training, and Super Hornet aircraft. No frontline combat soldiers were included in the contingent.

When taken holistically, the coalition seems to consist of the battered remnants of the Iraqi army and the Kurds bolstered by Shiite militia groups sponsored by Iran. U.S. and French air strikes -- and a firm commitment from the United States, France and Britain not to put their own troops on the ground -- are so far the extent of Western intervention.

It seems that everybody wants the Islamic State destroyed, but nobody wants to have to do it themselves. The coalition is fraught with mistrust before the campaign even begins.