News From The Epicenter

Most of the news today is coming from the Epicenter. First up - we can easily see how the instability in Egypt opened the doors for radical Islamic groups (including the Muslim Brotherhood) to step in and fill the void. We're already seeing the consequences:

Fifth Pipeline Bombing Marks Sinai Chaos

An explosion was reported at a depot along the Egyptian natural gas pipeline in Sinai that normally supplies Israel and Jordan with gas, Army Radio reported Saturday.

The attack on the pipeline was the third this month and the fifth since the beginning of 2011. It also followed a shootout between Egyptian security forces and apparent Islamic militants on Friday.

The pipeline was not currently supplying Israel with natural gas due to damage incurred from the previous blasts.

Friday Protest: Islamists Call for Sharia Law in Egypt

But unlike the protests in February which led to the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, this time the crowd consisted mainly of Islamists who called for the implementation of Islamic law in Egypt.

According to CNN, the demonstrators included conservative Salafists as well as members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad, who arrived in hundreds of buses from across Egypt.

The crowd held up signs and shouted: “Egypt will return to Islamic Sharia law! Liberals and secularists are the enemies of Allah! The solution is Islam!”

...the Muslim Brotherhood, banned from politics under Mubarak’s regime, has been eying the throne in Egypt.

Following the revolution, the group created a broad super-coalition of opposition parties in hopes of taking Egypt's next government by storm.

The group’s leaders have publicly stated they would implement Muslim sharia law in Egypt should they take office.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards train new Hamas commando brigade in Gaza

A team of Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officers has just finished setting up Hamas' first commando unit especially trained to combat any Israel military force entering the Gaza Strip, DEBKAfile's military sources report.

The new "Al Qods Brigades" unit of 400 men is to be the first of three. A week ago, July 23, the first unit held a passing-out parade and leave-taking ceremony from its two Iranian instructors.

The urban guerrilla combat tactics which the Iranian instructors imparted to their Hamas trainees drew heavily on the experience al Qods is gaining in Syria, where its experts are helping President Bashar Assad crack down on protest – especially accentuating advanced disguise and camouflage techniques for striking at the enemy under cover.

The new Hamas commandos were also given a cover name – The Brigades for Reconstruction and Challenge – under which they will set up more brigades in the coming six months. The newly-trained units will then fan out to the areas bordering on Israel, armed with techniques and weapons for inflicting the highest possible number of casualties on any invading force.

Egyptians call for Sharia Law, Islamic caliphate

Tens, and perhaps hundreds of thousands of Egyptians poured into Cairo's now-famed Tahrir Square on Friday to demand their nation become subject to Sharia Law and form the cornerstone for a new Islamic caliphate.

The demonstrators, who were led by the increasingly powerful Muslim Brotherhood, demanded that Egypt's interim military regime give way to an intolerant Islamic dictatorship.

Egyptian commentators are now saying that what is happening in their country more closely resembles the Iranian revolution.

The End for Assad? High Ranking Officers Desert, Join Rebels

A Syrian Major-General has deserted Assad's army along with a group of other officers and joined the rebels.

As'ad accused the Assad regime of crimes against the Syrian people and called on the officers and soldiers in the Syrian army not to aim their weapons at the people. He further called on them to join the Free Syrian Army.

In an Arabic video clip posted on Youtube on July 29, 2011, the officer, Major-General Riad El As'ad is seen in the company of other officers, announcing the establishment of the "Free Syrian Army whose main goal will be to fight the army of oppression headed by President Bashar Assad"

The article below is worth considering:

Why It's Time To Speak About God Again

This is worth reading. Below is the opening comment and the concluding comment in this article:

America is living under an illusion: the idea that we can expunge God (broadly understood) from our national and public belief system and still operate a moral and accountable government.

What we must face is a simple fact. A morality unhinged from God is not only inadequate for the times, but it will also doom us to a permanent slide into oblivion. Many believe that America will turn publicly to God...eventually. But will it be too late when the time finally comes?