My Return to Blogging & plan to focus on broader issues in South West Asia

I am returning to active blogging after a few years in response to requests from some loyal followers. The purpose remains educational in focus and I hope to use this medium to alert my students and other followers about informative and insightful publications on South and South West Asia besides occasional updates about my own writings, travel reports and events.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

St Jacob the Martyr of Lebanon - 'Refusing to accept the dark yoke of another god'

Image
"God, not forgetting his saints, and being ever-benevolent to his people, especially knowing we need grace in these latter times," has revealed to the faithful a forgotten monastic confessor and witness, the Monk-Martyr Jacob of Hamatoura, Lebanon, sparking the revival of an ancient and long-ago devastated monastery. In this Life, we see the example of an Orthodox Christian monastic who was pursued by Muslim invaders for witnessing to Christ by his holy life. They tried to convert him to Islam, but he refused to accept "the dark yoke of anther god." They then beheaded him and destroyed his monastery, burning his body and trying to eradicate all evidence that he had ever lived. This happened six centuries ago. Sound familiar? Now a new monastic brotherhood has revived the monastery and is openly venerating the great Martyr St Jacob! May the Lord protect them and multiply their efforts during these latter days! And may we all draw strength from their courage and the w...
Read more

Extended Interview with Raymond Ibrahim on Islam, by Hank Hanegraaf

Image
This is an outstanding, "Ultimate" interview with Raymond Ibrahim, author of 'Crucified Again - Exposing Islam's New War On Christians' , 'The Al Qaeda Reader' , and a new book scheduled for 2018, 'Sword and Scimitar'. Hanegraaf lets Raymond really explore the topics, which results in a riveting, wide-ranging discussion, with Raymond being able to stretch out and make a compelling presentation based on his many years of research. It's a long interview (more than 90 minutes), but well worth it. Raymond Ibrahim continues to elevate his stature as one of the great Christian scholars on the Islamic threat. St Vladimir's Seminary — You should invite this man and give him an honorary PhD and have him give a keynote address on Orthodoxy and Islam. Money quotes: "If Allah is God, then he's schizophrenic." "The early Christians... were scandalized when they finally got the Koran and Muhammad's biography, saying basically, ...
Read more

Realism and Islam

Image
"Our leaders cannot comprehend what is going on, either when a whole Western civilization loses its faith and moral standards or when Islam reawakens to the implications of its own faith and its vision of world conquest..." "Realism means that we can and should call what happens by its proper name. It also means that, if we cannot or will not make this proper naming, we are not realistic. We will inevitably suffer the consequences of our failure to state the truth of what is there." "The Muslim protagonists of today realize how close they were several times in the past to conquering Europe as the next step in world conquest. What they see today is a very realistic opportunity to succeed where their ancestors failed." Realism and Islam— To see reality in its fullest dimensions... by Rev. James V. Schall, S.J., Catholic World Report , April 17, 2016: I. Political realism, long associated with Augustine, constrains us to consider what Machiavelli later recomm...
Read more