MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Reuters – “The United States would not be safe from retaliation if Iran is attacked by Washington, the Iran newspaper quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander on Tuesday as saying.

‘In the face of any attack, we will have a crushing response. In that case, we will not only act in the boundaries of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, no place in America will be safe from our attacks,’ Massoud Jazayeri was quoted as saying by the daily.

Iran would not strike any country first, he said.

Tehran is locked in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program.

Israel and the United States have threatened military action against Iran unless it abandons activities which the West suspects are intended to develop nuclear weapons.

Further talks between Iran and world powers are expected to take place this month in an attempt to reach a compromise.

The most recent talks failed in January 2011 after Iran refused to suspend its sensitive uranium enrichment work, as demanded by several U.N. resolutions.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran: ‘When the Entire World is Armed With Nuclear Weapons, it is Permissible to Use These Weapons as a Counter-[Measure]‘ – “‘The spiritual leaders of the ultra-conservatives [in Iran] have accepted the use of nuclear weapons as lawful in the eyes of shari’a. Mohsen Gharavian, a disciple of [Ayatollah] Mesbah Yazdi [who is Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s spiritual mentor], has spoken for the first time of using nuclear weapons as a counter-measure. He stated that ‘in terms of shari’a, it all depends on the goal.’…  He further said that ‘when the entire world is armed with nuclear weapons, it is permissible to use these weapons as a counter-[measure]. According to shari’a, too, only the goal is important…’” Read more.

Flashback: Former Ambassador John Bolton: Iran May Be Much Closer to a Nuclear Bomb Than the World Realizes – “A report that Iran is about a year away from having the capability to build a nuclear bomb may be too optimistic, contended John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. ‘I worry the publicly available information is giving only a very small picture and that Iran is actually even much further along,’ Bolton said today in a radio interview. Bolton was on ‘Aaron Klein Investigative Radio’ on New York’s WABC Radio… Reacting to the one-year timeline, Bolton stated, ‘I think it can be even less than that.’” Read more.

Like I said, it’s only a matter of time …

By Roula Khalaf – “You can forgive Egyptians for concluding that the Muslim Brotherhood cannot be trusted.

After claiming that it is not trying to control parliament, that it favours consensus over monopoly and that it would not field a candidate in the presidential elections, Egypt’s most powerful political movement has broken all its promises.

Scepticism about its intentions was already rife last week after the Brotherhood packed the elected panel charged with drafting the post-revolution constitution with devotees. The move provoked a walkout from the panel by representatives of liberal parties, the constitutional court, the Coptic Church, and even al-Azhar, the centre of Sunni religious authority.

Then the Brotherhood dropped a bombshell at the weekend with a decision to nominate Khairat al-Shater, its strategist and most formidable leader, as its candidate in the May 23 presidential election.

The movement’s brazen push for power is a dramatic departure from its decades-old approach of cautious, gradual politics and its more recent preference for sharing in the responsibility of ruling Egypt’s 80m people.

‘It’s a turning point in the history of the Muslim Brotherhood,’ says Dia Rashwan, analyst at Cairo’s Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.” Read more at FT.Com.

Worry not, the Islamists will eventually rule in a manner which reflects the diversity of Egypt. Indeed, there will be a diverse list of penalties for those who break the law. In fact, Egypt’s new rulers have even decided to finally accept the crucifixion. As a means of punishment. In light of the fact that Egypt is becoming a “new Iran“, some will even say that this is a step forward. That is, if you still have feet …

“Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church has said it is ‘pointless’ to take part in talks on a new constitution, saying mounting Islamist domination in the talks has led them to withdraw from the assembly, Egypt’s state news agency said.

The 100-member constitutional assembly selected by the parliament is dominated by Islamists, reflecting their resounding victory in parliamentary elections.

Late on Sunday, the Church announced the decision to withdraw; a move which followed earlier calls by Egyptian liberals to boycott the constitution drafting committee, which is seen as failing to adequately represent the nation’s diversity.

‘The Coptic Orthodox Church General Council agreed with the approval of all of the council’s 20 members to withdraw from the constitutional assembly… as it found it was pointless for the church to be represented following the comments made by the national forces about the way the assembly was formed,’ the state news agency said, quoting a church statement.

The current constitution was suspended by the country’s army rulers in February of last year shortly after they took power from Egypt’s long-serving autocratic president, Hosni Mubarak.

Coptic Christians, who form Egypt’s biggest minority group and constitute most of Egypt’s 10 percent Christian population, have long had a difficult relationship with the country’s overwhelmingly Muslim majority.

Since Mubarak’s ouster, Christians have become increasingly worried after an upsurge in attacks on churches, which they blame on hardline Islamists …” Read more.

Egypt secularists pull out of constituent assembly – “Liberal and leftist parties have pulled out of a panel drafting Egypt’s new constitution, they announced on Tuesday, accusing Islamists of monopolising the process to deliver its post-revolution charter. The withdrawals from the panel will call its legitimacy into question, pushing the struggle between Islamists and secularists over the issue to crisis point. ‘We announce our rejection of the way the constituent assembly was formed,’ Ahmed Said, the head of the liberal Free Egyptians party, told reporters.” Read more.

Revelation 9:11, “They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).”

By Michael Rubin – “If Iran became a nuclear power, would it risk its own regime survival to strike at Israel? Such questions remain at the heart of the current debate. Those who argue either President Obama should try diplomacy again or that containment can work argue that Iran would not launch their weapons in a first strike against Israel, never mind what Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said during his term as president. A recent article in the Iranian press written by Ali Reza Forqani, an ally of the Supreme Leader, however, should re-inject concern about what Iran’s true intentions are. Entitled, ‘The Fiqh [Islamic Jurisprudence]-Based Reasons for the Need for Israel’s Annihilation,’ the Open Source Center recently provided a full translation. The article begins by recalling Ayatollah Khomeini’s views:

The first Qibla of Muslims has today fallen into the hands of Israel, this cancerous tumor in the Middle East. Today, Israel is using all satanic means cause divisions. Every Muslim has the obligation to equip himself against Israel. I have been warning about the dangers of international Zionism for about 20 years and now do not consider that danger for all the liberation movements in the world and for Iran’s recent Islamic revolution to be any less than what it was in the past. I have already warned that the usurping government of Israel, with the designs and ideas that it has for Islam and Muslim countries, presents a great danger and the fear is that should the Muslims grant them the opportunity time would be lost and then it no longer would be possible to stop them. Since the very foundation of Islam is facing a potential danger, it is necessary for all the Muslims in general and the Islamic governments in particular to act to remove this corrupting material by any means possible. All our troubles are due to Israel!

The article continues to cite two Quranic verses to justify an Iranian military strike on Israel:

“And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight against you, and do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does not favor those who exceed the limits” [Qur. 2:190]. “And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter; and do not fight with them at the sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them for such is the recompense of the unbelievers” [Qur. 2:191].”

Read more.

By Jonathan Dienst and Shimon Prokupecz – “A computer graphic warning that al-Qaida will return soon to New York City has been posted on an internet site linked to the terror organization, and the NYPD and FBI say they are investigating.

The graphic was posted on a radical overseas website and shows the city skyline and reads: ‘Al Qaeda Coming Soon Again in New York.’

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the graphic appeared on a site that has hosted al-Qaida material before and is what the NYPD Intelligence Division refers to as a Category 1 website, meaning it is heavily used by Jihadi and al-Qaida adherents.

He added that the NYPD is working to try to determine what individual or group posted the threat on the website; it is now being spread across numerous extremist forums…

The NYPD says there is no evidence of any plot or new specific threat to the region. Al-Qaida web forums often post threats and rants from extremists and al-Qaida sympathizers.” Read more.

Flashback: Intelligence Sources Fear Iran is Helping Al Qaeda to Plot Another Major Terror Attack Against the West – “Iran and al Qaeda’s core leadership under Ayman al Zawahiri have established an operational relationship amid fears the terror group is planning an attack against the West. There are concerns such an attack, possibly targeting the London Olympics later this year, would be in revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US last year.” Read more.

Flashback: Federal Judge who ruled Iran behind 9/11 Vindicated with more Evidence – “… Iran has already threatened terror attacks on American soil. Remember the Iranian terrorist who was invited to the Oval Office? His name is Hadi al-Ameri and he is a longtime, close colleague of the man to whom the Ayatollah reportedly ordered to carry out terror attacks in the United States recently. If al-Qaeda worked with Iran to perpetrate the 9/11 attacks and the latter is now threatening more attacks against the United States, wouldn’t it make sense to see Iran take the leash off of al-Qaeda today?” Read more.