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Nearly two years after the Jasmine Revolution brought down the government, Tunisians are still not satisfied, and renewed riots started last week over economic difficulties once again, sparking concerns over more Islamist unrest. The economic struggles that ignited the self-immolation of a despairing pushcart vendor set off what days later became known as the country's “Jasmine Revolution.” The decades-old regime of President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali was ousted by protesters in January 2011, setting off the region-wide Arab Spring uprisings. But in the final analysis, the country is still struggling. And Tunisians still take to the streets and clash...

Syria’s Civil War is leaking out of its borders into Lebanon. The two countries share a porous border and very close communal ties. As tensions between Sunnis and Shiites rise in Syria, so too do they mount in Lebanon. The Sunni-Shiite faultline in Lebanon is being projected onto the Syrian civil war. Sunni militants view their jihad against the Shiite movement as a mirror image of the Syrian rebels’ fight against the Alawite-dominated regime of Assad. They see the Lebanon’s Shiite movement of Hezbullah and the Assad regime as both enemies of the Sunnis. In 1970, Hafez al-Assad, an...

The Bashar al-Assad rule in Syria has come under heavy fire from people who believe that the regime must quit over its atrocities. But any attempt by the US-led West to impose a replacement will backfire soon India’s oil-rich western neighbourhood, extending from the Arabian Sea to the Bosporus, is engulfed in conflicts arising from sectarian and civilisational rivalries, aggravated by the meddling of external powers. With an arsenal of over 100 nuclear weapons, Pakistan is today witnessing a period of internal strife, largely arising from the pernicious role of its military establishment and tensions across its disputed borders with...

A September attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis left four dead, 49 injured, several buildings looted and burned out and the black Salafi flag flying above the embassy grounds... --snip-- Broadly speaking, Islamists divide into three types: 1. Salafis, who revere the era of the salaf (the first three generations of Muslims) and aim to revive it by wearing Arabian clothing, adopting antique customs and assuming a medieval mindset that leads to religious-based violence. 2. Muslim Brothers and like types aspire to an Islamic version of modernity. Depending on circumstances, they might act violently or not. 3. Lawful Islamists...

As you know, a Tunisian man was seen on the Consulate videotape the day of the attack.  He was arrested a short time later in Turkey at their airport as he tried to pass through with false documents.  The Turkish authorities turned the man over to Tunisia (not the USA for questioning) and the Tunisian government has not let our FBI interview him.  The US has not explained why they could not get access to interview this man.   About 3 nights ago, Senator Lindsey Graham learned of the foregoing and was outraged that we had not interviewed this man....

An Egyptian suspected of involvement in last month’s attack on the US mission in Benghazi in which Ambassador Chris Stevens was slain in Cairo yesterday, Wednesday. According to the Egyptian Interior Ministry, the man — named only as Hazem — died in a shoot-out with security forces at an apartment in Nasr City, northeast Cairo. They had been sent to arrest him following information received implicating him in the Benghazi attack. He is said to have recently returned from Libya. Security sources say he threw a bomb from the ground floor apartment but it bounced back into the building. Police...

The Phoenicians were originally based in a series of city-states that extended from southeast Turkey to modern-day Israel. They were great seafarers with a taste for exploration. Accounts survive of its navigators reaching places as far afield as Northern Europe and West Africa. They founded settlements throughout the Mediterranean during the first millennium B.C. Carthage, whose Phoenician name was Qart Hadasht (new city), was one of those new settlements. It sat astride trade routes going east to west, across the Mediterranean, and north to south, between Europe and Africa. The people spoke Punic, a form of the Phoenician language... The...

NOTE The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2011/alleged-terrorist-indicted-in-new-york-for-the-murder-of-five-american-soldiers Alleged Terrorist Indicted in New York for the Murder of Five American Soldiers U.S. Attorney’s Office December 09, 2011 Eastern District of New York NEW YORK—Today, a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., returned an indictment charging Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa, 38, aka “Faruk Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa,” “Sayfildin Tahir Sharif” and “Tahir Sharif Sayfildin,” with aiding in the murder of five American soldiers in a suicide-bomb attack in Iraq in April 2009. Specifically, he is charged with the murders of Staff Sergeant Gary L. Woods, 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky.; Sergeant First...

TUNISIAN CHILDREN’S MAGAZINE SHOWS KIDS HOW TO MAKE A MOLOTOV COCKTAIL ... Sadly not a misprint. Because that’s the first thing that’s on any kid’s mind, how to light someone else on fire. Kind of reminiscent of the Hamas’ kiddie program featuring mice and bunnies that incite children to commit acts of terrorism. So no folks, this is nothing new. RTNews: A Tunisian children’s magazine “Kaws Kouzah” has recently published a detailed step-by-step instruction of how to make a Molotov cocktail. Now the periodical is facing a lawsuit for endangering kids lives. The Tunisian Ministry for Women and Family Affairs...

The emergence of extremist Islamists groups joining in the war against the Syrian regime has been a cause of serious concern to many on both sides of the conflict. As groups and factions split over their ideological and political agendas, fierce fighting is repeatedly breaking out in the opposition camp. Several days ago, the commander of a group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Levant, was assassinated. Abu Mohammad al-Shami, better known as al-Absi, was killed by Islamist fighters from the Salafi-leaning al-Farouq Battalion, which is also ideologically affiliated with al-Qaeda. ... Absi’s assassination was not the first time the Jihadis...

On and around September 11, 2012, al Qaeda attacked multiple American assets around the world. The attack that has received the most attention is the deadly attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. But the U.S. consulate in Libya was not the only diplomatic facility assaulted by al Qaeda-affiliated groups in September. Terrorists with ties to al Qaeda’s senior leaders, including al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, were involved in at least three other U.S. embassy sieges in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, and possibly elsewhere. A timeline of these assaults is...

Small teams of special operations forces arrived at American embassies throughout North Africa in the months before militants launched the fiery attack that killed the U.S. ambassador in Libya. The soldiers' mission: Set up a network that could quickly strike a terrorist target or rescue a hostage. But the teams had yet to do much counterterrorism work in Libya, though the White House signed off a year ago on the plan to build the new military task force in the region and the advance teams had been there for six months, according to three U.S. counterterror officials and a former...

A chilling detail in this Reuters report on yesterday's protests at the US embassy in Tunisia from reporter Tarek Amara: "Obama, Obama, we are all Osamas," they chanted, in reference to the slain al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. The protesters pulled down the U.S. flag flying over the embassy, burned it, and replaced it with a black flag emblazoned with the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith.

The United States ordered non-essential staff to leave its embassies in Tunisia and Sudan on Saturday after both diplomatic posts were attacked and Khartoum rejected a U.S. request to send a platoon of Marines to bolster security at its mission there.

<p>CAIRO — An unprecedented wave of anti-American violence swept across Africa, Asia and the Middle East on Friday as protesters, angered by an amateurish video that mocks the founder of Islam, stormed and scorched U.S. embassies in Tunisia and Sudan, ransacked a German embassy in Sudan, and set a fast-food restaurant ablaze in Lebanon.</p>

Someone had better roust Barack Obama from whatever fundraiser he is attending at the moment and let him know there is a crisis going on. The State Department is belatedly trying to secure our embassies and consulates around the world; in the meantime, rioters swarmed over the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia, tore down the American flag and replaced it with the black flag of al Qaeda.

A black Islamic flag is currently flying over the U.S. embassy in Tunisia after it had been stormed by an angry mob of protesters, who were upset over an anti-Islam film that was made by Americans. This is just one of many incidents occurring around the world today, in which Americans are being targeted. In Tunis, the mob overran the compound, scaling walls and setting fire to trees before tearing down the American flag and replacing it with a symbol of Islam. It is not thought that any U.S. staff were actually in the embassy in Tunis. An American school...

TUNIS, Tunisia — Violent protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunis against an anti-Muslim film were met with tear gas and gunshots Friday, leaving two people dead, 29 others injured and plumes of black smoke wafting over the city. Several dozen protesters briefly stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Tunisia’s capital, tearing down the American flag and raising a flag with the Muslim profession of faith on it as part of the protests. Protesters also set fire to an American school adjacent to the embassy compound and prevented firefighters from approaching it. The school appeared to be empty and no...

Obama's foreign policy has helped set the Middle East on fire.

6 Minutes Ago - Protesters set fire to the American School in the Tunisian capital on Friday, after hundreds of people incensed by a "made in the USA" film that demeans the Prophet Muhammad invaded the US embassy compound and clashed with riot police. The school was closed on Friday. Protesters had earlier set fire to trees in the US embassy compound. "Obama, Obama, we are all Osama," the protesters chanted to the US president, referencing the slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. 20 Minutes Ago - Anti-Islam film protests Live Blog Anti-Islam film protests 7 minutes ago Protesters set...