Putin, Macron Meet In Versailles, Egyptian Christians Killed For Refusing To Renounce Their Faith

Putin, Macron meet in Versailles on 300th anniversary of Tsar Peter’s visit to France

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in France to meet new French leader Emmanuel Macron. Macron, who in the past has been critical of Moscow, is hosting Putin at the Chateau de Versailles, just outside Paris.

Macron invited Putin to participate in the inauguration of a major exhibition celebrating the 300th anniversary of Peter the Great’s diplomatic visit to France in 1717.

“I have respect for Russia, and I invite Vladimir Putin in the framework of a three hundred year diplomatic relationship,”Macron said this weekend.

Macron has also acknowledged the importance of dialogue with Russia in resolving certain international problems, such as Syria and Ukraine, which he plans to discuss during his meeting with Putin.

“Many international problems cannot be resolved without Russia,” Macron said at a news conference after the two-day meeting of G7 leaders in Sicily, which wrapped up Saturday.

The new French leader emphasized that he was planning to have “a demanding dialogue with him [Putin] and I will discuss all the problems.”

Putin’s visit will also afford an opportunity for the two leaders to “discuss the state and the prospects of development of Russo-French relations in political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

It remains to be seen, however, if the new French president manages to build a constructive relationship with the Russian leader, as over the course of his campaign, Macron pledged to deal firmly with Moscow.

Blog: France's Macron makes a big play for Russia's affection

Following the Group of Seven meeting in Europe, which saw German Chancellor Angela Merkel sighing that the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner, France's new president is opting for another tack: Openly courting Russia's Vladmir Putin.

What we are seeing is classic European power politics, where France aligns with Russia to check Germany and possibly the U.K. and U.S. It's high-school, but this is how Europe has always done it. With no European Union of any credibility around, it's easy to see the new outlines of the power structure. And as the Napoleonic Wars demonstrate, the power alliances can be shifted around at the drop of a hat.

It shows the unexpected strength Macron has in playing power games, perhaps something he learned from his days as an investment banker with one of the storied Rothschild banks. Macron in general has shown himself to be a fairly strong entity, not at all the idiot his youth and inexperience would suggest. A Justin Trudeau he is not.

The new French president, who in the past has been critical of Moscow’s policies, is due to host President Vladimir Putin for the first time at the Chateau de Versailles. The meeting comes less than a month after Emmanuel Macron assumed office.

Macron invited Putin to participate in the inauguration of a major exhibition celebrating the 300th anniversary of Peter the Great’s diplomatic visit to France in 1717.

“I have respect for Russia, and I invite Vladimir Putin in the framework of a three hundred year diplomatic relationship,”Macron said this weekend.

Clearly, Macron is making an extensive effort to go all out to please Putin. He obviously knows that Putin is obsessed with Peter the Great and would do anything to match the great Russian hero's achievements. It's a sign he knows how to flatter Putin - in a way that Putin likes, to put a La Rochefoucauldian touch on it. Though there have been several impressive 19th century tsars, Peter the Great really is Russia's best hero. Putin knows that. Macron knows that. Macron knows that Putin knows that. And now we see the rather unprecedented red-carpet treatment honoring the anniversary of a tiny event at Versailles a couple centuries ago as a sign of a continuing logical alliance.

Macron clearly is seeing his opportunities in the wake of the G-7 and taking them. It will take astute strategization on the part of the U.S. to counter it, and that probably means ending the continuous sanctions on Russia. In any case, the great power politics of the 19th century do seem to be taking hold as President Trump rattles the world order.

Egyptian Christians Killed for Refusing to Renounce Their Faith in Jesus

As more and more details emerge concerning Friday’s Ramadan attack on a busload of Christians on pilgrimage, the more it becomes evident that these 29 martyrs died solely because they were Christians.

Survivors of the attack said that the ten masked Islamic State militants did not merely open fire on the bus full of Christian pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confesor, but that the victims were made to descend from the bus and asked one by one whether they were Christians before being shot by the assailants.

According to one of the chaplains of the group, Father Rashed, as each pilgrim came off the bus they were asked to renounce their Christian faith and profess belief in Islam, but all of them—even the children—refused. Each was killed in cold blood with a gunshot to the head or the throat.

“Wherever innocent blood is spilled, a wound is inflicted upon humanity,” the statement said. “But this attack also steels our resolve to bring nations together for the righteous purpose of crushing the evil organizations of terror, and exposing their depraved, twisted, and thuggish ideology.”

The attack occurred in the midst of a three-month state of emergency period in Egypt following twin attacks on Coptic churches on Palm Sunday last month that killed some 46 Christians who were in church honoring the celebrations. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for those attacks as well.

On Saturday, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s slaughter through its Amaq news agency.

Survivors of Egypt Christian bus attack recount their horror

Video interviews with survivors of a deadly attack by Islamic militants on a bus taking Egyptian Christians to a remote desert monastery are painting a picture of untold horror, with children hiding under their seats to escape gunfire.

The videos surfaced on social media networks on Sunday, two days after 29 were killed in the attack on a desert road south of the capital. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday. It was the fourth attack against Christians in Egypt since December to be claimed by the IS. The string of attacks have killed more than 100 and injured scores.

One survivor, a small boy who seemed to be about six, said his mother pushed him under her seat and covered him with a bag. A young woman speaking from her hospital bed said the assailants ordered the women to surrender their jewelry and money before they opened fire, killing the men first and then some of the women.

The woman said the gunmen were masked and wore military uniforms.

Two girls, ages 2 and 4, were among those killed, according to a list released by the local government in Minya, the province where the shooting took place. The attack left 26 wounded, including nine children. Only 11 of the 26 remained hospitalized on Sunday.

Bishop Makarios, the top Coptic Orthodox cleric in Minya, said the assailants told Christian men they ordered off the bus that their lives would be spared if they converted to Islam.

"They chose death," said Makarios, who has been an outspoken critic of the government's handling of anti-Christian violence in Minya, where Christians account for more than 35 percent of the population, the highest anywhere in Egypt.

"We take pride to die while holding on to our faith," he said in a television interview aired late Saturday.

Makarios confirmed that the assailants stole the women's jewelry and his contention that the men were ordered off the bus before being killed was also confirmed by a video clip purportedly taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. This video showed at least four or five bodies of adult men lying on the desert sand next to the bus; women and other men screamed and cried as they stood or squatted next to the bodies.

CAIR outraged by sheriff warning of ‘Islamic jihadists’

After the Manchester terror attack in which 22 people were killed and 59 injured, a Texas sheriff urged the citizens under his watch to “pay attention” to what is happening in Europe, because the ideology behind the threat to the continent is active in the United States as well.

While many citizens of Denton County, north of Dallas, expressed appreciation for the warning by Sheriff Tracy Murphree, an Islamic group that regards itself as “moderate,” casting its role in the U.S. as a defender of the civil rights of Muslims, expressed outrage, noted author Robert Spencer on his Jihad Watch blog.

The Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement calling on Murphree “to reaffirm his pledge, and that of his officers, to serve and protect all Denton County residents regardless of their faith, ethnicity or national origin.”

“We are concerned that someone obligated to provide equal justice for all holds such inaccurate, stereotypical and divisive views,” said CAIR-DFW Civil Rights Director Nikiya Natale.

CAIR, regarded by the FBI as a front group for Hamas, was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas-funding case and desginated by a Gulf Arab state as a terrorist organization.

“Pay attention to what you see in Manchester England tonight. Pay attention to what is happening in Europe. This is what happens when you disarm your citizens. When you open your borders without the proper vetting,” he wrote.

The sheriff warned against allowing “political correctness to dictate how you respond to an enemy that wants to kill you.”

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer commented that CAIR’s response “is extremely odd, since ostensibly CAIR is a ‘moderate’ group that rejects all the acts committed by Muslims that Murphree enumerates as ‘extremism’ stemming from a ‘hijacking’ of the Islamic faith.”

“Isn’t Hamas-linked CAIR against saying ‘convert or die’ to infidels, and treating women as property, and killing gays and women and Christians with impunity? Apparently not,” said Spencer.

Washington Post's Jerusalem Bureau Chief Peddles Anti-Israel Fake News

I think it’s fair to say that when it comes to anti-Israel reporting in the so-called mainstream media, the New York Times consistently takes top prize. Its writers have attempted to mainstream hate sites, romanticized rock throwing and have openly stated that they could not be impartial when writing about those pesky Jews. Given its current radical trajectory it’s safe to say that NYT will retain this dubious distinction for the foreseeable future. But another paper is giving the NYT a run for its money.

Led by its Jerusalem bureau chief, William Booth, the Washington Post has aggressively engaged in historical revisionism, propaganda and yellow journalism. On May 24, the paper featured an article called, “A Palestinian’s daily commute through an Israeli checkpoint.” The piece, which lacks balance as well as context, centers on a sympathetic Palestinian Arab named Taweel, and the “frustration humiliation [and] pressure” he must endure when entering Israel proper through a checkpoint called “Checkpoint 300.”

The article notes that Taweel, while working in Israel, earns double what he would earn working for a Palestinian employer. What the article fails to note is that there is a dearth of jobs in Palestinian Authority controlled areas. This is because the Palestinian economy is rife with corruption and graft. Well-paying government jobs are awarded through connections rather than competence. The same holds true for obtaining lucrative government contracts. 

Private sector growth, innovation and healthy competition are virtually non-existent. The Palestinian economy, to the extent that one could call it that, is a beggar economy which has gotten used to living off the fat of the West. The PA receives billions in Western aid and much of that money gets siphoned off by government officials or those connected to them. Some of it is channeled as stipends to the families of imprisoned and dead Arab terrorists, neutralized or arrested while carrying out acts of barbarism against Israeli, American and British nationals.

Leaked Classified FBI Memo Shows Seth Rich Had DNC Emails On Laptop, Hints At WikiLeaks Ties 

(1) Story of Pulitzer Prize Photo Wife with Marine watching over Fallen

Greenblatt: Trump Eager to Start Negotiating Core Israel-PA Issues