You will not be hearing of what took place at Al Quaryatayn any time soon. Most of us have never heard of the place.
It happens to be one of the rare cities in the Middle East where the Christians out number the resident Moslem population: or used to.
Isis over-ran the Christian enclave North East of Damascus in 2015 and it was not until last week that the place was liberated.
This was the result of a joint Syrian/Russian action that drove out the thugs after three days of fighting.
You might have thought that the 18,000 population would be in the streets rejoicing, but they were not and the reason was simple: there was nobody left in the city.
Recent photographs reveal a ghost town bereft of its civilian population. The magnificent twelve hundred year old church is a burned out wreck; the grave yard is desecrated, Bibles have been reduced to ashes, sacred texts obliterated all evidence that there was once a Christian community, gone.
Welcome to the world of radical Islam.
Welcome back the rule of Bashar Assad who encouraged diversity of faiths to flourish under his regime.
He is the man who all the Western powers demand to resign. Yet, paradoxically, he is the leader who has protected the Christian minorities from the very beginning of his rule.
Please, please, please for once get it right. If we are the Christian West then stand with our Christian brothers and sisters and if Assad is the man who is protecting them, stand behind him and let God take care of the details.
Jubilate.
Ian
It does not take long for the scintillating minds of the journalists to come up with a catch-phrase or title that will stick in people's minds. The latest one is "The Panama Papers".
This piece of alliteration will not only stick in people's minds but also in their craws for a long time to come.
What burst upon the world's headlines yesterday were the leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca Panama bank that listed the private accounts of thousands of their wealthy clients.
Of itself that should not cause such a stir, but add to this revelation the fact that these customers were using this off-shore bank to hide massive assets from their respective governments and we have a tax-fraud of epic proportions.
The knowledge that off-shore banks help their clients to evade taxes is no surprise, but the sheer size of this tax-evasion and the people involved is big news: REALLY BIG.
The Prime Minister of Iceland, the President of Russia, The Prime-minister of England's father and a host of other big wigs, big names and big stars from Hollywood are on the most wanted list.
The figures from this bank alone are in the billions, add to that number all the other offshore banks and the bottom line would probably add up to a trillion dollars.
Now if you or I would cheat on our taxes expect a quick visit from the IRS. But we are the proletariat's. The people who govern us and make the rules can seemingly break them as well.
Nevertheless, for large and small alike there is a warning from the Great Keeper of ALL accounts who writes in His Book:
(Numbers 32: 23)
"BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT."
Yes, they have been found out and they make a grim list of criminals but don't expect to see any of them behind bars any time soon.
Jubilate.
Ian
