The New York Times has finally found a victim of Islamic aggression in Nigeria worth reporting on: homosexuals. In a big spread complete with pictures appearing last week, the NYT’s Adam Nossiter wrote “Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays.”

While it’s all well and good to expose the persecution of any group, why does the NYT remain silent about the much more endemic and savage jihad to “sanitize” Nigeria of Christians—a jihad that has seen countless Christians butchered and countless churches destroyed?

A 2012 meeting of Nigerian church heads concluded that “the pattern of these killings [of Christians] does suggest to us a systematic ethnic and religious cleansing.”

Among other things in the group’s bid to cleanse the Muslim-majority north of all Christian presence, it has threatened to poison the food eaten by Christians and “to strike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women.” The group frequently storms areas where Christians and Muslims are intermingled—from villages to colleges—and singles the Christians out before slitting their throats.

In 2011 hundreds of Christians were killed and 430 churches destroyed or damaged. In 2012, 900 Christians were slaughtered. Indeed, of all Christians killed around the world in 2012, 70% were killed in the west African nation. In 2013, 612 Christians were killed and some 300 churches destroyed. The year 2014 promises to be the same. Just the other day, over 50 Christians were slaughtered by “Allahu Akbar” screaming jihadis.

Thus, from a purely demographic point of view, we may deduce that for every one man who gets exposed as a homosexual in the privacy of his own home, and killed for it, thousands of Christians expose themselves as infidels whenever they openly congregate and worship inside churches, as they do every Sunday, and get killed for it.

Based on numbers alone, then—assuming the NYT can agree that all human lives are equal, that the life of the Christian is equal in value to the life of the homosexual—the dramatically much bigger story has long been the relentless and genocidal jihad on Nigeria’s millions of Christians.

But of course, it’s not surprising that the NYT in general, reporter Adam Nossiter in particular, are biased concerning whose plight to highlight. The NYT and Nossiter are the very ones who, on December 25, 2011—the day after Boko Haram bombed several churches during Christmas Eve services, leaving some 40 dead—published a spread equivocating the truth concerning the Muslim persecution of Christians in the African nation.

Then, on Christmas Day, 2011, the NYT’s Nossiter declared:

The sect, known as Boko Haram, until now mostly targeted the police, government and military in its insurgency effort, but the bombings on Sunday represented a new, religion-tinged front, a tactic that threatens to exploit the already frayed relations between Nigeria’s nearly evenly split populations of Christians and Muslims…(emphasis added).

“Until now”? The fact is Boko Haram had been terrorizing and killing Nigerian Christians and destroying their churches several years before the 2011 Christmas church bombings. Indeed, Christmas Eve 2010—one year to the day before the 2011 Christmas Eve church attacks—Boko Haram bombed several churches, killing 38 Christian worshippers.

Thus Nossiter’s characterization of the 2011 attacks as “represent[ing] a new, religion-tinged front” is not only inaccurate but unconscionable.

Moreover, whereas the NYT’s Nossiter asserted that there are “already frayed relations” between Nigeria’s Christians and Muslims, he talks of no “frayed relations” between Muslims and homosexuals: he correctly knows that the “fraying” comes from one direction.

And it’s the same concerning Nigeria’s Muslims and Christians—the “fraying” comes from one direction. Yet, due to Nossiter’s prevarications, the reader is left with the impression that Nigeria’s Christians and Muslims are equally motivated by religious hostility—even as one seeks in vain for Christian terror organizations that bomb mosques in Nigeria every Friday to screams of “Christ is Great!"

When talking about Boko Haram’s jihad on Christians, the NYT’s Nossiter managed to insert another mainstream media favorite: the “poverty-causes-terrorism” meme: “The sect’s attacks [on Christian churches] have been further bolstered by festering economic resentment in the impoverished and relatively neglected north, which has an exploding birthrate, low levels of literacy and mass unemployment.”

Needless to say, when writing about the persecution of homosexuals, “festering economic resentment in the impoverished and relatively neglected north”—precisely where homosexuals are most persecuted—is never cited as a contributing factor.

Such are the ways that “reality” is created or evaded by the mainstream media and, from there, to the unsuspecting masses of the West. The script must always prevail—reality be damned.

Christian Voice

by Robin Phillips

A group of nuns and orphans remain missing after their abduction at the hands of Syrian rebels.

Over two months have now elapsed since Mother Superior Pelagia Sayyaf and at least 11 other nuns were kidnapped on 2 December from their Convent of St. Thecla, Maaloula, Syria. The orphans who lived in the monastery were also taken captive.

A group calling themselves the “Free Qalamoun Battalion” accepted responsibility for the seizure, which occurred at one of the most ancient Christians communities. The group is associated with al-Qaida and forms one of the many armies that have been trying to overthrow the lawful Syrian government.

The kidnappers have refused to free the nuns until their demands have been met. These demands include the release of 1,000 Syrian rebels held in regime prisons.

Mother Pelagia is reported to have got a message through to say that she and the sisters were “fine and safe.” In a video released by the rebels, Mother Pelagia and the nuns testified to their safety and well-being, although it is uncertain if they said this under duress. Metropolitan Philip, leader of the Antiochian Orthodox church in America, disregarded the video as a “mockery,” asserting that the nuns were forced into making this video under “extreme psychological pressure.”

Father Nicola Daoud of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Tripoli and Koura has warned that Mother Pelagia and her nuns may suffer the same fate as two previously kidnapped archbishops that we reported on last June.

Syrian rebels have raped at least 37,000 women in the civil war to overthrow the government.

The worst case scenario is that the nuns have been raped and sexually abused by their captors. A report issued by the National Reconciliation Commission in Syria states that some 37,000 women have been raped since the civil war began. Raymond Ibrahim reported in The American Thinker that “pro-war Islamic clerics have issued any number of fatwas, or Islamic rulings, permitting sexually frustrated, female-deprived rebels to rape women.” The brutal history of attacks against women bear this out.Raymond Ibrahim has chronicled some of these:

Somalia: In response to Pope Benedict’s historical quotes, which, like so many other things —including teddy bears — so enraged the Islamic world, Muslims in Somalia shot Leonella Sgarbati — a 66-year-old nun who had devoted 30 years of her life working in Africa — in her back. Her last words before dying in hospital were: “I forgive; I forgive.” Pakistan: In September 2012, gunmen on motorbikes dressed in green (Islam’s color) opened fire on the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral in Hyderabad, murdering at least 28 people. Their immediate target was a nun, Mother Christina. Libya: In February 2013, after the fall of Col. Gaddafi, Islamic rebels threatened Christian nuns into fleeing the nation. They had been there since 1921, focused primarily on helping the sick and needy. Philippines: In an article discussing a Christmas Day church bombing in a Muslim-majority region, we learn that the jihadi group responsible “has been blamed for several bomb attacks on the Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo since the early 2000s and for kidnapping priests and nuns.” Guinea: In June 2013, during a mob-led frenzy, Christians and their churches were savagely attacked in the Muslim-majority nation — with some 95 Christians slain and 130 wounded — including “the quarters of the nuns, [which] was looted before being torched.”

United States Strangely Silent Amid International Outcry

The lawful Syrian government and state-run news organizations have joined the international community to condemn the kidnapping of Mother Pelagia and her nuns.

Syrian Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that “these nuns devoted their lives to serve the orphans, the needy and the poor and they should be kept at a distance from political disputes.”

Syria’s Relief and Social Affairs Minister, Kinda al-Shammat has called on the “international community” to pressure those countries who support terrorists to release their hostages, including terrorists in Syria.

On December 2, 2013, Foreign and Expatriates Ministry sent two identical letters to UN Security Council chairman and UN Secretary-General, saying that “the Arab Republic is facing a barbarian war launched by extremist takfiri gangs targeting its present and future.” The Ministry went on to report the Mother Pelagia Sayyaf incident in Maaloula.

Metropolitan Philip has called on Obama to take a stand against the terrible kidnappings perpetrated by Syrian rebels

On December 4, 2013, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Russian Orthodox Church demanded the release of Mother Pelagia and her nuns. The rights ombudsman for Moscow’s Foreign Ministry pressed the international community to “condemn the incident,” because he believes Christians are increasingly in danger in Syria.

Meanwhile, the United States government has shown reluctance to condemn this atrocious event even though it has been heavily involved in the Syrian situation. The uncomfortable reality is that the United States has sent weapons and training to the very Syrian rebels who have been raping and pillaging Christian communities.

Metropolitan Philip, leader of the Antiochian Archdiocese in the United States, wrote a letter to President Obama and Mrs. Obama. He explained the situation concerning Mother Pelagia, emphasizing that these nuns were “peaceful women do not have arms and do not fight but pray for peace every day and night.” However, the White House remains strangely silent, preferring to portray the Syrian rebels as peace-loving protestors forced into warfare out of a desire for liberty.

Breitbart.com

by William Bigelow

Russia's President Vladimir Putin is winning a big chip in the worldwide game of poker that Russia plays against the U.S.: Egypt. Putin said this week that Field Marshal Sisi, 59, who is likely to run for the presidency in Egypt and is in Moscow to negotiate a $2 billion arms deal with Russia, has his backing if he runs. Putin said he was “aware” that Sisi has decided to run, although Sisi has not declared publicly that he will do so. Putin said: "I know that you, mister defense minister, have decided to run for president of Egypt. I wish you luck both from myself personally and from the Russian people."

Egypt’s new constitution calls for an election by mid-April. Two weeks ago Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) said publicly that it would support a Sisi presidential bid. Last week the Egyptian military denied a Kuwaiti report that Sisi had said he would run. The military said any announcement would "be done via clear and direct statements that cannot be doubted or misinterpreted."

What happened to the close ties between the U.S. and Egypt that had been carefully nurtured since Anwar Sadat turned the Egypt-Riusiia axis into an Egypt-U.S. allianZPce? Two words: Barack Obama.

Obama interfered in the Egyptian internal process when Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down, choosing to support the Muslim Brotherhood instead of letting the process take its natural course. When demonstrations against Mubarak started and Mubarak realized he would have to step down, he appointed Ahmed Shafik Zaki as prime minister. The Muslim Brotherhood started negotiating with Zaki, but three days later the ultimatum came from the U.S.: Mubarak had to resign immediately, which he did.

Then, when elections were held, Morsi declared victory while Zaki wanted to challenge the results in court. But the U.S. immediately sided with Morsi, delighted that the Muslim Brotherhood could take power.

Last November, Obama was accused of crimes against humanity in a complaint submitted to the International Criminal Court, based in the Hague. The complaint, filed by a group of Egyptian lawyers, said, “Obama cooperated, incited, and assisted the armed elements of the Muslim Brotherhood in the commission of crimes against humanity in the period from 3/7/2013-8/18/2013, in the Arab Republic of Egypt.”

As Egyptian-American writer Raymond Ibrahim wrote:

Above and beyond the accusations of crimes against humanity that the lawyer-drafted complaint cited by El Watan levels against the Brotherhood, one need only look to the fate of Egypt’s Christian minority, who were especially targeted by the Muslim Brotherhood—and thus, by extension, their supporter, Obama—to see numerous examples of nearly every aforementioned definition of crimes against humanity.

Also last November, it was reported that Moscow was planning to sign a landmark agreement to deliver air defense systems to Egypt’s army. Rostec chief Sergey Chemezov said the contract was simply waiting for Egypt to secure the funding. There were strong rumors that Saudi Arabia would pick up the check.

Obama has championed virtually every Islamist movement in the Middle East while abandoning our traditional allies while Putin has been watching for an opening. Now it looks as though Egypt will also be lost.