#khomenei

[arrahmahcom]

Khomenei Sambut Baik Kembalinya Hubungan Diplomatik dengan Mesir

TEHERAN (Arrahmah.id) – Pemimpin Tertinggi Iran Ayatollah Ali Khomenei menyambut dimulainya kembali hubungan diplomatik dengan Mesir pada Senin (29/5/2023), selama pertemuan dengan Sultan Oman, Haitham bin Tarik yang sedang berkunjung. Hubungan antara Teheran dan Kairo memburuk setelah revolusi Islam 1979 di Iran dan pengakuan Mesir atas “Israel”, musuh bebuyutan republik Islam itu. Khomenei…

[humusboii2thereturnoftheking]

A Morrocan ex-Muslim take on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

This is again taken from reddit, text was posted by user named u/Benjazzi. I found it a very insightful read and I hope you will too:

I'm from Morocco. I'm atheist but my entire family is muslim. When it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict, some muslims, sadly, can really go insane. For them, it's our tribe (Palestine moslems) against the enemy tribe.

Israel bombed South Lebanon after Lebanon bombed them ? "It never happened"

Israel stormed the holy Al Aqsa mosque because people throwing rocks took refuge inside of it ? "I don't believe it"

Mass Rapes ? "Fake news. It never happened"

"Our tribe can do no wrong" is literally how many people think.

To be fair, Jews can be tribal. But it's frankly nowhere to the same extent. The Jewish press is full of critics of the Israeli government and debates. Honestly, I have found that as long as you don't sing "Death to Israel" and are respectful, you can have very constructive conversation with most Jews and Israelis, even if you are critical. That's because they have a tradition of debate. Sadly, the muslim world lacks this.

Saudi Arabia just bought Cristiano Ronaldo for $1 billion. I have seen people on arab social media argue that Saudi Arabia doesn't help Palestinians because... the Saudi Prince is a puppet on a jewish-american string. It's totally stupid. He has publically humiliated the President of the United States.

Why he doesn't help ? Well. The explanation is simple. He doesn't give a fuck. But the idea that a sovereign arab leader might not care about "our tribe" is so shocking and so disturbing that some people need to find sinister foreign hands to explain it.

Egypt is right now shooting people who try to leave Gaza. I have seen Egyptians argue that the Egyptian President is....secretly jewish. "Sisi is a jewish dog, his mom is jewish". I mean... really 🤔 ?

The idea that a sovereign arab leader might not care about "our tribe" is so shocking and so disturbing to them that many Egyptians have to find some insane conspiracy to explain it.

This is the kind of cognitive dissonance that I sadly see all around me.

NYT publishes an investigation critical of Israeli behavior? I post it online. Reactions on social media ? "Great job ! Fucking zionist pigs. The New York Times just exposed them"

NYT publishes an investigation critical of Palestinian behavior ? I post it online. Reactions on social media ? "Fuck your propaganda. New York Times is pure zionist filth"

"Our tribe can do no wrong".

A newspaper is reliable or fake... simply depending on how it portrays the tribe !!

Then you have Islamism on top of that. The cherry on the chocolate cake.

Read the comment I posted here :

The real problem today in our world is a guy called Sayed El Qutb.

He was an egyptian intellectual who is considered the father of ALL Islamists.

In his books, he argues that the best period for muslims was under the Islamic Caliphates, when the entire world respected and feared muslims. He believes the Islamic World went through cultural, political and economic decline due to not enough Islam. According to him, only a return to PURE Islam™ can make muslims great again. Sayed El Qutb endorsed creating an Islamic State based exclusively on Sharia Law. He praised violent jihad against the non-muslims (kouffars). He opposed secularism, gender mixing, and hated jews ("filthy pigs") and atheists.

He was hanged in 1964 for attempting to murder President Nasser. But his books have spread very successfully. Sayd Qutb is to islamists what Karl Marx was to communists. Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Nosra front. All of their creators read his books and deeply admired him.

3 countries are particularly behind Islamism : Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar.

The first one is Saudi Arabia. In the 70s, using their oil money, they opened a special university called the University of Madinah. Anyone can go study there for free to become an Imam. Saudis will pay your tuition and boarding school. Your food ? They will pay for it. These imams all learned the ideas of Sayed Al Qutb. Westerners are filth, jews are vile pigs, women must obey men, women must be veiled, secularism is a form of mental disease.

After graduating , these Saudi-trained Imams were sent back to their country in Africa, Europe, or Malaysia, to spread Saudi soft power. And this happened for decades and decades. They were the most successful in 2 countries in particular : Pakistan and Egypt. In these countries, a generation of public school teachers received Saudi textbooks. Imagine the result on the general population.

The second country to blame for Islamism is Iran.

In 1979, a secular dictatorwas overthrowed and replaced by a religious dictator. Ayatollah Khomenei became Supreme Guide of the Revolution. He always wears a black turban on his head. That black turban means he is "sayyed", a direct descendent of Muhammed. Ayatollah Khomenei was a deep admirer of Sayed Qutb. He translated all Sayed El Qutb's work into Farsi to "educate iranian people".

His new Islamic regime started using their oil money to fund $$$ radical islamic groups all around the Middle East. In Irak, in Pakistan, Lebanon, in Syria. His successor, "Ayatollah Khamanei" has pursed his heritage. Iran published a Fatwa calling for any muslim who can to murder the UK poet Salman Rushdie for his books. Salman Rushdie has been forced to live in hiding for 20 years. He was recently stabbed during a literary festival in America.

In 1984, Iran published an official postal stamp paying tribune to Sayed El Qutb, calling him a true martyr of Islam. Also, several streets and avenues in Iran were named "Qutb" as a tribute.

The third country to blame is Qatar. They are the favorite headquarter of all islamists in the world today. Al Nosra Front, Al Qaeda, Hamas, The Afghan Talibans. You always find Qatar.

In Morocco, Qataris are big supporters of the local Islamists (حركة التوحيد والإصلاح)

I can testify that what Al Jazeera spreads in arabic is far far worse than what they actually say in english. They had a TV show with a guy called Youssef Al Qaradawi. This guy is a disciple of Sayed El Qutb. He tells people it's okay to beat up your wife, that jews are disgusting pigs, that Islam will take over Europe. His TV show was watched by 60 million people every week on Al Jazeera Arabic. 60 million people. Every week. In 1998, they published a documentary called "Ben Laden : One man standing against an empire"

Here is another thing you won't see in Al Jazeera English. Basically, the rape, slaughter and torture of Israeli civilians is just presented as "a wonderful victory" on Al Jazeera Arabic. That's it. They won't give any more detail. No pictures. Anyone who seriously studies the military tactics of Hamas, reading academic papers, comes to the conclusion that the Israelis - whatever you think about them - aren't actually lying. Hamas really does use Palestinians as Human Shields. It's never mentioned on Al Jazeera. Never. In fact, their "journalists" told a palestinian shouting this to shut his damn mouth.

Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar. These 3 countries have become the cancer of Islam.

And they have used their money to spread their influence, including in Morocco. Now the cancer has spread.

The question is how do we cure it? I don't know. I have small hopes for Saudi Arabia because even if their Prince is a dictator, he genuinely wants to improve his country. He is reforming textbooks to remove antisemitism, allowing women to drive, allowing music, ending forced gender segregation, etc... But the other two countries remain a major problem.

[navree]

i do love how many people either forget or just straight up do not know that superman is in death in the family almost entirely because he's in the stupid part of death in the family

[girlactionfigure]

Jimmy Carter destabilized Iran and helped overthrow the Shah, resulting in the Islamic Revolution and the loss of one of the most important allies of the US in the Middle East. 

In 2016, the BBC published a report that exposed the Carter admin’s extensive contact with Khomeini prior to 1979. 

According to the report, Khomeini went to great lengths to convince the US not to jeopardize his plan to rule Iran:

“It is advisable that you recommend to the army not to follow [Shah’s prime minister Shapour] Bakhtiar,” Khomeini said in one message, according to the BBC. 

"You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans," said Khomeini in another message, pledging his Islamic Republic will be "a humanitarian one, which will benefit the cause of peace and tranquillity for all mankind".

In another message sent via a US emissary, Khomeini assured the Carter admin that their economic interests would not be impacted if he was granted power in Iran: “There should be no fear about oil. It is not true that we wouldn’t sell to the US.”

According to the report, in turn, Carter helped Khomeini and made sure that the Imperial Iranian army would not launch a military coup.

Khomeini returned to Tehran on February 1, 1979, just two weeks after Carter convinced the Shah to take a “vacation” and leave Iran. 

The Iranian military, which was under US influence, surrendered, and within months Khomenei was declared the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Regime was born.

Link. Link

[tanadrin]

Apparently Iran came this close to having a moderate succeed Supreme Leader--if Khomenei had died like a year earlier, Hussein-Ali Montazeri would probably have succeed him, but Montazeri publicly opposed the mass murder of political prisoners in 1988, and was expelled from Khomenei's inner circle.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Brian Stewart

But since deferring to Washington last October, the Netanyahu government has generally met Hezbollah’s continued aggression with remarkable restraint. As it pounded Hamas in Gaza, Israel pointedly refrained from doing anything remotely comparable to Hezbollah, preferring to absorb its attacks and bide its time until Hamas had been defeated as a military organisation. But this posture was unsustainable indefinitely in the teeth of relentless aggression without inflicting further damage on Israel’s deterrent power—a remote consideration for inveterate critics of Israeli counter-terrorism but an essential one for the stewards of Israeli security.

In recent days, a decision was finally made by Israel’s war cabinet to spurn the Biden administration, which has not displayed much interest in allowing its allies to actually win wars initiated by their enemies. First, Israel detonated Hezbollah’s communication devices, which Israeli intelligence had booby-trapped with explosives, decommissioning thousands of Hezbollah fighters and operatives at a stroke and spreading paranoia through its rank and file. This ingenious attack compelled the militia’s senior officers to meet in person, which provided Israel with the opportunity it needed to waste Hezbollah’s chain of command, including Nasrallah himself.

Netanyahu ordered the strike in the Dahiyah before he left Israel to address the UN General Assembly, underscoring his nation’s independence from a global consensus that has preferred to denounce Israel while giving succour to its terrorist enemies. The alternative would have been to permit Iran’s revolutionary network, laboriously built around Nasrallah since he was elevated to lead Hezbollah in 1992, to remain intact. It was pure folly and naivety, in Washington as much as in Jerusalem, to think that such a malign and expansionist force could be safely accommodated, let alone absorbed into a durable regional order.

Hezbollah’s malice toward Israel has been unambiguous since its inception. An early Hezbollah manifesto—its 1985 open letter addressed to the “Downtrodden in Lebanon and the World”—promised to evict outside powers from Lebanon and terminate “the influence of any imperialist power” (besides Syria or Iran). The main enemy of the “Islamic resistance,” it declared, was the United States, which deployed Israel as the “spearhead” to inflict suffering on the Muslims of Lebanon and beyond. The clerics directing Hezbollah’s foot-soldiers have been committed in word and deed to perpetual war against Israel ever since.

Contrary to the popular myth that Hezbollah emerged as an organic “resistance” organisation during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the group was already a stalking horse for Iranian interests in the Levant by then, created and trained by the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. The ill-conceived and ill-fated Israeli invasion undoubtedly aided the group’s proliferation —it “let the genie out of the bottle,” Yitzhak Rabin later conceded—but it was Iran, intoxicated by the euphoria of its 1979 revolution, that nurtured its lethal proxy on the shores of the Mediterranean. And it was Iran that provided the materiel and military backing to its fellow Shi’ites in south Lebanon who, until then, had been a disdained underclass in Lebanon’s polyglot ethnic makeup. Its operatives and fighters, newly urbanised and in search of religious purpose, came to think of themselves as warriors in Ayatollah Khomenei’s wilayat al-faqih, a Shi’ite notion of ordained supremacy. In time, Hezbollah became not only the most powerful force in Lebanon but also the most dynamic and feared militia in the Middle East.

The group’s poisonous ideology—a grim trinity of anti-modernism, anti-Americanism, and antisemitism—combined with its revolutionary passion has wrecked Lebanon. Hezbollah began by driving suicide truck-bombs into US targets and kidnapping prominent Americans, evolved into an anti-Zionist guerrilla army, and then effectively took over the Lebanese state from within. In the process, it emerged as a uniquely malevolent force in the Arab world. As Thanassis Cambanis observes in A Privilege to Die, Hezbollah is “not quite a state, but much more than a political party; not quite an army, but much more than a terrorist network; not yet a full-fledged transnational movement, but much more than a Lebanese faction.”

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jack Rivington

Published: Sep 29, 2023

Ahead of International Blasphemy Rights Day, Jack Rivington says freedom of religion or belief must include the freedom to criticise or dissent from religious orthodoxy.

The freedom to question and criticise religious ideas in the same manner as any other kind is foundational to a democratic society. Where it exists at all, this freedom is constantly threatened, both by its traditional enemies of theocracy and religious fundamentalism, but also increasingly from a misguided interpretation of liberal values.

A recent report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom identified 95 countries which criminalise blasphemy in some way. That number is at least one too few, as it fails to include the United Kingdom, where the offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel remain on the books in Northern Ireland.

Punishments in countries which outlaw blasphemy vary, from fines to imprisonment and execution. Unjust though such legal processes are, the extra-judicial violence licenced and encouraged by such laws is of equal importance. The Center for Inquiry, which established September 30th as International Blasphemy Rights Day, has said to "charge someone with blasphemy is to value a person's life less than an idea". Though this is particularly true in countries such as Nigeria and Pakistan, where those accused of blasphemy are often murdered, it is also the case worldwide. Last year, Sir Salman Rushdie was attacked in Chautauqua, New York, 34 years after the Ayatollah Khomenei called for his murder for the supposed offence of blasphemy.

Those who would impose and enforce blasphemy codes on others do not respect or recognise national borders or sovereignty. A commitment to free speech must therefore be equally international in its scope. In failing to fully abolish its blasphemy laws, the UK validates the notion that perceived offence to religion or God should be prohibited, thereby undermining its ability to promote the right to freedom of expression elsewhere.

Attempts to shield religion from criticism are also underway via systematic efforts to characterise such criticism as a form of racial or ethnic bigotry. The concept of 'Islamophobia', vigorously promoted by Islamists both in the UK and abroad, is the most pressing example. Integral to the concept is the claim that criticism of ideas is equivalent to attacking individuals. Under the term's definition formulated by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims (APPG), to question Islamic ideology is to effectively express hate for Muslims.

This is a blasphemy law in another form – a point demonstrated by the case of Erika López Prater, who was fired last year by Hamline University after discussing artistic representations of Muhammad in an art history class. A Muslim student complained that as images of Muhammad are banned in Islam, the content of the lesson – and by extension Prater – was thus blasphemous and Islamophobic.

By agreeing that images of Muhammad are Islamophobic and should therefore not be shown, Hamline generalised the personal feelings and religious interpretation of one individual as the definitive position of Islam. But this view is not shared by all Muslims. As Anna Khalid - an associate professor of history at Carleton College and herself a Muslim - pointed out, in endorsing the supposed Islamic ban on images of Muhammad, Hamline "privileged a most extreme and conservative" point of view.

A policy which empowers the most fundamentalist elements within a religious community is neither liberal nor inclusive. Yet that is precisely what the current arguments around 'hate speech' have achieved. What we have, in effect, is a code which polices a particular theological interpretation of Islam against other interpretations. It is a gross perversion of laws intended to protect the right to freedom of religion or belief to enlist them in sectarian theological disputes in this way.

If the right to freedom of religion or belief means anything, it must include the right of those within religious groups considered blasphemous by more doctrinaire views to practice their faith as they see fit. The current understanding of 'Islamophobia' threatens those who perceived not to conform to traditional theology – Muslim women who reject the hijab, openly LGBT Muslims, and minorities within the religion such as Ahmadis, for example. It is absurd to think that a gay Muslim could be labelled 'Islamophobic' for criticising elements of their own faith which are homophobic. Yet under the current conceptual framework, such criticism could be labelled as such. The ability to criticise religion must therefore be seen as an essential component of the right to freedom of religion or belief, not in conflict with it.

However well-intentioned, politicians who endorse the concept of 'Islamophobia' are effectively reintroducing blasphemy laws by the backdoor and empowering fundamentalists within religious communities in the process. Concerningly, a significant part of the UK's political establishment appears unaware of the problem – the APPG definition has been accepted by all major parties except the Conservatives, along with one in seven UK local authorities.

The UK must not sacrifice the right to free speech in a misguided attempt to promote social cohesion. Secularism, and a robust defence of the ability to criticise all ideas and ideology, is the only genuine way to achieve an properly inclusive society which respects everyone's right to freedom of religion or belief. In defending that right, we must remain vigilant.

[hinahasan]

khomenei this war should

be decisive and a truly peaceful state for poor palestinians asap…we dont want tit for tat cat and mouse war…..finish the job and give them back their homes and total surrender of zionists. INSHALLAH TAALA. https://twitter.com/Ya_Mahdi_RV/status/1850796224510603622?s=19

[bllsbailey]

October Fests: A potpourri of late election-year 'surprises' shake up most races, history shows

The term "October surprise" – denoting an unexpected plot twist late in an election cycle that typically throws a wrench in prognostications – first entered the U.S. lexicon in 1980.

1980s

During that contest between Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter and former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, Reagan was cognizant that a sudden release of 52 hostages in Iran could boost his opponent's campaign.

To that time, Carter’s term was marked by long-term economic "malaise," foreign policy stumbles like the hostage crisis and other concerns.

Reagan’s campaign manager, former SEC Chairman William Casey, warned that Carter might be planning such an "October surprise" and urged allies in the intelligence community to alert them to any premonitions of a hostage release.

Ultimately, no "surprise" ever occurred, and Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei instead released the hostages after 444 days in captivity on the date Reagan was inaugurated in 1981, instead giving Republicans positive fodder.

President Carter, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said that the decision of the Iranian government to take custody of the American hostages was, "A positive step" and "We do not intend to impose additional sanctions against Iran." (Bettmann via Getty)

As far as October surprises go, Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign against former Vice President Fritz Mondale was quiet. The Republican went on to win a record 49 states, excluding Mondale’s Minnesota.

The same could be said for 1988, as Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis’ campaign appeared to flounder – particularly after he was mocked for wearing an oversized helmet while sitting on a tank in an ad.

If there had been a surprise, however, things may have been different far into the long-term, as Dukakis waxed during a 2008 interview that if he had "beaten the old man" – then-Vice President George H.W. Bush – "we’d never heard of the kid, and we’d be in a lot better shape these days; so it’s all my fault."

1990s

From 1988 to 2016 – except 2012 – a Clinton or a Bush had been a major party candidate in every cycle, and all but once the nominee.

President Reagan joins Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and Vice President George Bush. (Getty)

Bush the elder was vice president during that scandal, which surrounded allegations that the U.S. had funded Nicaraguan rebels known as "La Contrarrevolución" with funds from arms sales to Tehran.

That December, Washington, D.C., federal Judge Thomas Hogan threw the case out on statute-of-limitations grounds. Bush later pardoned Weinberger.

After the 1992 October surprise, Bush was upset by Arkansas Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton. The candidacy of Texas billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot also contributed to Bush’s loss.

Following a relatively quiet 1996 cycle, the 2000 race between Bush the younger and then-Vice President Al Gore was marred by its own October surprise.

2000s

During the last week of the campaign, a report surfaced claiming that Bush had been arrested for DUI in Maine in 1976.

Bush ultimately confirmed he had been taken into custody after consuming beer at a Kennebunkport bar over Labor Day weekend that year, when he was 30 years old.

Election workers hand check ballots for "hanging," "pregnant" or "dimpled" chads at the Broward County Emergency Operations Center, Nov. 18, 2000. (Reuters)

"It’s an accurate story. I’m not proud of that… I admitted to the policeman I’d been drinking… I learned my lesson," Bush said at a Wisconsin rally.

Karl Rove, a top Bush aide who is now a Fox News contributor, suggested at the time that the October surprise may have cost his boss the popular vote in a handful of states.

Ultimately, Bush won – in one of the most closely-contested elections until the 2020 bout between former President Donald Trump and now-President Joe Biden.

Florida officials toiled over "hanging chads" on paper ballots, while Republican consultant Roger Stone and then-Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y. – whom Bush later dubbed "Congressman Kick-Ass" – were credited with staging the "Brooks Brothers Riot" of dapper demonstrators at Miami-Dade’s election office.

In 2004, just before the election, Usama bin Laden was seen on video taking responsibility for 9/11 and calling Bush a dictator for his use of the Patriot Act. Then-Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., cited the video after his loss for bringing terrorism to the fore once again.

Members of the group "Code Pink" wave signs as Richard S. Fuld Jr., CEO of Lehman Brothers, arrives to testify before Congress.  (Karen Bleir/AFP via Getty Images)

And it was the charisma of then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., combined with slogans like "Hope," "Change" and "Yes We Can" that galvanized the youth vote. This surge of enthusiasm, set against the backdrop of the financial crisis – a major October surprise – is what undermined Republicans’ chances.

2010s

During the 2012 cycle, it was a Republican who was blamed for an October surprise that doomed the GOP nominee.

After Hurricane Sandy devastated the northeast, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie publicly gushed about Obama's efforts during the recovery and was criticized for the warm reception he gave Obama, which purportedly translated into a last-minute boost for the incumbent.

Christie has long denied ever hugging Obama, as critics have claimed, calling it the "old, ‘nobody ever saw it because it didn’t happen' hug'."

Barack Obama is greeted by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after he arrives at Atlantic City International Airport, October 2012. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)

At a 2016 town hall in Sussex, N.J., Christie questioned critics who still bring up the alleged chumminess, asking, "what would you have me do, exactly . . . say, ‘No, I’m for Mitt Romney, I don't want you to come' – or would you rather me wear my Romney sweatshirt while I was walking around with him – this is ridiculous stuff."

In 2016, after originally declining to recommend that the Department of Justice prosecute Hillary Clinton that July for mishandling classified materials, FBI Director James Comey announced just days before the election that he was reexamining the Democratic nominee’s email saga.

FBI Director James Comey. (REUTERS/Gary Cameron)

Clinton narrowly lost several swing states and Trump commanded an upset to become the first non-politician or non-military officer elected president.

That victory came despite another October surprise that year – as a tape of Trump bragging to TV host and presidential cousin Billy Bush about being able to "grab" women by their genitalia undeterred, sent shockwaves through the media.

2020s

A major October surprise occurred in 2020, when the New York Post broke the story surrounding the mixture of obscene imagery and documentation of foreign business dealings found on Hunter Biden’s laptop – after it was left at a Wilmington repair shop.

Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and James Comer of Kentucky hold a hearing on Twitter's handling of a 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden and his laptop. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Social media organizations allegedly sought to stifle the "surprise," and a consortium of intelligence officials attested in a heavily critiqued letter that the report was Russian propaganda. 

The story was later confirmed to be accurate, though it came months after Joe Biden had upset Trump.

While not in October, Democrats faced a political earthquake in July when Joe Biden – following a widely mocked debate performance – decided against continuing his reelection bid, and the party chose Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place.

With an already contentious election cycle in 2024, it remains to be seen whether a major October surprise will reveal itself, or whether Americans will look back on an event that has already happened this month and deem it the quadrennial shocker.

Fox News’ Leonard Balducci contributed to this report.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. 

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant. 

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

[summer-solo-day]

113/?? Childhood TV Shows You Should Watch

Title: The World's Greatest Super Friends

Episodes: 8

Run Time: 22 Mins

Original Air Date: September 22, 1979 - September 27, 1980

Synopsis:

This particular incarnation of Super Friends relied heavily on folklore and classic fairy tales for plots. One episode in particular, "The Lord of Middle Earth", was inspired by the novel The Lord of the Rings, in which the team journeys to Middle-earth to save the inhabitants from an evil wizard. The series also borrowed from contemporary politics, as the main villain Kareem Azar in "Rub Three Times for Disaster" is almost a carbon copy of the late Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruholla Mussaui Khomenei (1900–1989).

My Rating: 9/10

My Reasoning: I'm personally a sucker for fairytales and things like that so the fact that this short series relies heavily on that is a plus for me. Also, like I've mentioned in previous posts, I enjoy it when there is more than one superhero in a show. I like the variety that it brings.

[gary232]

Globalisation is prompting a reformulation of the common Muslim belief that Islam is not only a religion but also a complete way of life, which in Islamic discourse is known as the 'one religion, one culture' paradigm. Instantaneous and worldwide communication links are now allowing Muslims and non-Muslims to experience the reality of different Islamic cultures. Such experiences reveal not only what is common among Muslims but also what is different. For example, gender relations and dress codes for Muslim women are structured in different ways in Muslim countries like Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

Similarly, there are vast differences in the religious practices of Abangan or syncretic Javanese Muslims and Wahabi Muslims (followers of the strict practice insisted by Mohammad ibn Abd al-Wahab) of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. This realisation has provoked an unfavourable reaction among some groups of Islamic intellectuals towards this 'hybridity' (syncretic and heterogenous Islam). It has caused some radical Islamic movements to seek to replace 'hybridity' with the 'authentic' Islamic way of life. In Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, Islamic scholars like Azyumardi Azra have rejected the ideologies of radical Islamic organizations like Front Pembela Islam, Jamaat Muslimen Indonesia and Al Qaida because they see these organizations as advocating 'Arabic Islam'(authentic Islam) and rejecting the accommodative Indonesian Islam (hybrid Islam).

The struggle between 'hybridity' and 'authenticity' represents perhaps the most important challenge of globalization for the Muslim ummah. It is one of the underlying causes of the emergence of Islamic fundamentalist movements. Fundamentalism refers to a strategy used by followers of Islamic 'purists' like Maududi, Syed Qutb, and Ayatollah Khomenei to assert their own construction of religious identity and Islamic social order as the exclusive basis for a re-created political and social order. They feel that Islamic religious identity is at risk and is being eroded by cultural and religious hybridity. They try to fortify their interpretations of religious ways of being through their selective retrieval and particular reading of Islamic doctrines and practices from a sacred past.

[almaqead]

"Shahad and Hudud." From Surah 2, Al Baqarah, "the Heifer."

Most people think Allah looks like the Ayatollah Khomenei, like some kind of Furious George:

This is because of a grossly misunderstood Quran. A few verses will help straighten out how Allah is and where the errors have come from. First there are a few binding declarations within something called Al Shahada, the "statement of faith used in Islam to create a portrait of Allah 100% of Muslims agree upon:

What is the Shahada?

The Shahada (shahadah) is the Arabic term for the declaration of faith in one God (Allah) and His messenger. Shah means the Lord, had means "to possess, to reign, to submit to."

What does the Shahada mean?

Transliteration: “Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, Wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulu-Allah.”

Translation:  “I bear witness that there is no God but God (Allah – i.e. there is none worthy of worship but Allah), and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

It is the most sacred statement in Islam, and must be recited with full understanding and mindfulness of it’s meaning.

The tone in the Quran towards Allah's sole single supremacy gets hot under the collar readily, and quite suddenly the Most Merciful sounds much more like the Most Merciless.

There are very specific instructions in Baqarah that shape how one is to know the mind of Allah and whether or not there is an Allah (a) or an Allah (b), one that is kind and one that loses its temper.

To qualify and quantify which Allah is the right one, I added Hudud "the Boundaries" to the Pillars of Islam. One must observe the rules of society and the obligations named in the Quran in order to be enthroned with Allah.

One who claims strict monotheistic loyalty to Allah but behaves like a fiend or a demoniac must be punished as this is, by default the creation of an alternate Allah that competes with the Real Allah and that is a sin. It must be punished severely so the Names of Allah remain pure.

The Quran addresses this with great clarity:

2:163-166:

And your god is one God. There is no deity [worthy of worship] except Him, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason.

And [yet], among the people are those who take other than Allah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allah. But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah . And if only they who have wronged would consider [that] when they see the punishment, [they will be certain] that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment.

[And they should consider that] when those who have been followed disassociate themselves from those who followed [them], and they [all] see the punishment, and cut off from them are the ties [of relationship],

And if only they who have wronged would consider [that] when they see the punishment, [they will be certain] that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment. And they should consider that] when those who have been followed disassociate themselves from those who followed [them], and they [all] see the punishment, and cut off

Crimes must be punished according to secular laws. This allows us to see the saint and the sinner out in the open. Failure to observe secular laws, which are approximately the same all around the world permit madmen and thieves to oppress, conquer, steal, rape, and destroy without recompense. Men who do these things and claim the Shahada are committing blasphemy and they cannot be tolerated.

Through the Fatihah, Hajj, Qiblah, Zakah, Sawm, Salat, Sadaq, Haram. etc. we come to know the real Allah such as He resides within the Quran. These should be performed at the level of one's very best.

Secular laws, however, according to the Pillar of Hudud must be perfectly enforced. This is the only way to protect the Shahada from blasphemy and protect the faithful while they perform Qiblah, Tawaf, etc. and actually illustrate Allah, AKA those Seated First.

[arun-pratap-singh]

Eight years after deadly attacks, Charlie Hebdo back in the headlines for angering Tehran

Eight years after deadly attacks, Charlie Hebdo back in the headlines for angering Tehran

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo made headlines again this week for mocking Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei, angering the Iranian regime and prompting it to close a French research institute in Tehran. The latest controversy comes as France on Saturday marked the eighth anniversary of the attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices that killed 12. Today, the irreverent, militantly atheist…

[opedguy]

Iranian Soccer Players Sentenced to Death

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com ), Dec. 14, 2022.--Iranian professional soccer player Amir Nassr-Azadani, 26, was arrested in November and now sentenced to death for blasphemy related to the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini by the Basij militia for violating Iran’s strict dress code.  Nassr-Azadani was accused of “waging war against God and will be hanged in public.  “We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of his punishment,” aid FIFPRO, the international soccer players union.  “Shocked and sickened, FIBPRO condemned the crackdown on Iranian soccer players for participating in nationwide protests over Amin’s death.  Iran’s mullah government, led by 83-year-old Supreme Learder Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been arrested protesters in droves, only recently hanging one for “waging war against God,” an egregious attempt by the mullah government to suppress unrest

Ayatollah Khamenei, and his 63-year-old President Ebrahim Raisi, responded forcefully to the nationwide street protests, amounting to the biggest threat to the mullah regime since in 1979 Islamic Revolution.  Iran’s bloody crackdown on street protesters has arrested hundreds and killed at least 50 since protest broke out after Amini’s beating death Sept. 16 by the Basij militia or “morality police.”  Iran’s youthful population has never known reedoms enjoyed by ordinary citizens under the rule of Shan Reza Mohammed Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran before he was ousted by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, the leader of the Islamic Revolution.  Forty-three years of mullah rule has soured the nation, no longer willing to live in fear of arbitrary arrests and vaporizations by the cleric government.  Nassr-Azadani played for the Persian Gulf Pro League since Tractor but has not played since November 2017.

More public executions, like the last one on a construction crane Dec. 12, intimidates the public into stopping the nationwide protests, now in their third month.  Most Iranians know that if they run afoul with the government, there’s no justice, only arrest, prison and vaporizations.  Nassr-Azadan is one out of 28 Iranians charged and arrested with violating “God’s law,” a crime against the mullah government.  No one knows how far the mullah government is willing to go to crack down on street protesters currently unwilling to stop activism.  Iran hung Mohsen Shekani on and industrial crane for his role in street protests.  Shkani was accused of blocking s street an injuring a member of Iran’s Basij militia.  Iran published a video confession of Shekan admitting he wounded a member of the “morality police,” letting protesters know that if they get caught, they’ll wind up the same way.

Oslo –based Iran Human Rights Group said that Shekani was tortured into a false confession before hung in public.  European Union [EU] announced sanctions on senior Iranian clerics for its ongoing crackdown on street protests, and, more recently, supplying Russia with Kamikaze drones and ballistic missiles in Ukraine.  Joining forces with Russia in Ukraine, Iran knows that the U.S. and EU consider itself a rogue regime, a state sponsor of terror.  Former President Donald Trump cancelled former President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iranian Nuke Deal May 8, 2018 because Iran sponsored war against U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.  President Joe Biden, 80, hoped to reestablish the Iranian Nuke Deal with EU partners, only to realize how the mullah regime attacks its neighbors and own citizens.  EU foreign ministers demanded that Iran stop the extra-judicial arrests and public executions around Iran.

Iran finds itself in a military alliance with Russia, much the way Axis powers in WW II joined Hitlers’s Nazi war machine.  Iran 83-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei knows he’s in an existential battle for his survival.  Joining the Russian war effort in Ukraine assures that if, push came to shove, Russia would rescue Khamenei the way he did in 2015 with 57-year-old Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  Obama and his Vice President Joe Biden, spent eight years pouring billions into rebel groups seeking to topple al-Assad’s Damascus regime.  Al-Assad survived with Russian military help, foiling Obama and Biden’s plans to topple the Damascus government.  Biden thinks he can pour unlimited cash and weapons in Ukraine with the hope to toppling the Russian Federation.  So far, Biden’s proxy war against the Kremlin has resulted in the destruction of Ukraine.

EU officials are taking action against Ayatollah Ali Khemenei’s mullah regime for supplying drones and ballistic missiles to Russia in Ukraine.  Whether the EU’s sanctions of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards make any difference or not isn’t known.  What’s known for sure is that the EU excluded itself in any effort to resuscitate the Iranian Nuke Deal now that Iran finds itself under siege from the U.S. and EU.  When it comes to Iran joining forces with Russia, how does that differ from China and India ignoring U.S. and EU sanctions and buying Russian oil and natural gas?  “Weapons provided by Iran are being used indiscriminately by Russia against Ukrainian civilian population and infrastructure causing horrendous destruction and human suffereing,” said the EU.  If The EU wants the 10-month old bloody Ukraine War to end, the EU should get behind French President Emmanuel Macron’s peacemaking.

About the Author      

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.  

[straynoahide]

I wrote ""Khomenei"" which isn't anybody but I meant Khamenei, the current leader, it was coordinate with Xi Jinping, the current Chinese leader. I didn't mean Khomeini, the dead leader, at any point.

I'm surprised you couldn't pick that from context and I have no idea what the bad faith angle would even be. I was comparing four current world/regional leaders and I did single out Putin as a wartime leader before you also phrased your reply like that was lost on me or sth.

ICC arrest warrants against Israel

The ICC isn't issuing an arrest warrant against Netanyahu bc he is a Likudnik, right-wing, corrupt, or a flawed person. They're issuing an arrest warrant against the PM of Israel, period.

The ICC would still issue this warrant against a PM of Israel that was from a socialist zionist party or a coalition that included antizionists. Israel is a pluralistic democracy and those exist in the Knesset. They're doing that in alignment with the UN to go after the gov that reacted to Oct 7 with the Simchat Torah War.

In the eyes of these international institutions, Jews alone have no right to a nation where they can exercise sovereignty and self-determination. So pay attention as media frames this maliciously and tries to set the premises of the conversation in a way that suits them; that pseudo-humanitarian rhetoric is premeditated, and funded, by the same people who instigated Oct 7 - Iran and its terror proxies.

The ICC has never given this treatment to the leaders of China and Iran, despite the fact they are responsible for crimes and war crimes. Even the situation is not comparable to Putin, who is engaging in a war of aggression and not a war of self-defense.

Hamas and Israel are not morally equivalent, and neither are their leaderships. It is Israeli Jews that have been indicted, not Netanyahu. And that indictment, is wrong.

[hoemeini]

Otp