Trump’s Words — and the Silence of Others — on the Persecution of Christians

By Raymond Ibrahim Published on June 13, 20251/2

On June 1, President Donald Trump issued a statement to commemorate Global Coptic Day. Among other things, he said:

“Today, I join the Coptic Orthodox Christian community in observing Global Coptic Day… Tracing its roots to Saint Mark, the apostle of Jesus Christ and the evangelist who brought the Christian faith to Egypt in the first century, the Coptic Church has been a beacon of Christendom in Africa for nearly 2,000 years. The Coptic community has left an indelible mark on the hearts of millions of Christians — most evidently seen in their timeless contributions to Christian theology and culture. This Global Coptic Day, we also pause to reflect upon the vicious and ongoing persecution of Coptic Orthodox Christians in Africa and across the Middle East. In 2015, 21 Coptic construction workers were brutally executed by ISIS terrorists in Libya. Like persecuted Christians all around the world, these heroic martyrs refused to renounce their faith. They exemplified sacrificial love and steadfast devotion to God, even in the face of certain death. The Copts’ persistence amid relentless persecution is a living testament to their unbreakable resolve and fearless dedication to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Trump’s statement is obviously powerful, but it’s more than that — it is rare. Unlike his predecessors, Trump has consistently acknowledged the brutal and ongoing persecution of Christians in the Muslim world, especially in Egypt, where Copts have long endured systemic violence, discrimination, and neglect.

And that persecution continues till this day.One week after Trump’s statement, the Virgin Mary Church in Luxor, Egypt, became the latest to go up in flames. So-called “accidental” church fires have become disturbingly commonplace in Egypt, with authorities reflexively ruling out arson often before an investigation even begins.

But Wait … There’s Worse

Even more disturbing are theroutine disappearances of Coptic women and girls. The latest high-profile case is that of Mariam Medhat Ramzy, who vanished on May 25. Abductions like hers are as common as they are rarely investigated seriously, if at all.

Add to this the frequent collective punishments inflicted onChristian communities when one of their members is perceived as overstepping their “place.” Just last week, in Minya, mobs of Muslims rioted, shouting “Allahu Akbar” while torching dozens of Christian homes.The spark? A Copt had the temerity to install a mobile booster on his own roof.

In this context, Trump’s words matter. They stand in stark contrast to the studied silence — or worse, moral equivalence — of his predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.Trump is, without question, the only U.S. president in modern history to directly and repeatedly confront the persecution of Christians in the Muslim world.

Nor is this a new position for Trump. During his first term, he addressed the issue bluntly. In 2020, he remarked on the “ongoing challenges facing the largest Christian group [Copts] in the Middle East,” emphasizing the need to “acknowledge the importance of religious freedom” and to “reaffirm our commitment to promoting and defending this core tenet of a free society.”

That year, he also called the treatment of Christians in the region “beyond disgraceful,” saying Christianity was being “treated horribly and very unfairly — it’s criminal.”

Perhaps most memorably, following the 2017 massacre of 28 Copts — including 10 children — by Islamic gunmen in Egypt, Trump stated:

“This merciless slaughter of Christians in Egypt tears at our hearts and grieves our souls… America makes clear to its friends, allies, and partners that the treasured and historic Christian communities of the Middle East must be defended and protected. The bloodletting of Christians must end, and all who aid their killers must be punished.”

https://stream.org/trumps-words-and-the-silence-of-others-on-the-persecution-of-christians/

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Words Matter

Some may argue that Trump’s words are just that — words. But words matter. And if you doubt that, consider how different the words of his predecessors have been.

When the Egyptian military ran over and gunned down dozens of peaceful Coptic protesters during the Maspero Massacre in 2011 —the worst state-sanctioned attackon Christians in modern Egyptian history,Obama issued what his administration called a “pointedly even-handed statement,” urging both sides, Christians and the military, to “show restraint.”

Yes, you read that right. Christians — mown down by tanks and bullets for daring to protest the burning of their churches — were told to “show restraint.”

This kind of moral equivalence was a hallmark of the Obama administration. In his ideological framework, Christians are always the “oppressors” and non-Christians the “oppressed,” regardless of the facts. That’s why, when Muslim extremists bombed three churches in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday in 2019, killing nearly 300 Christians,both Obama and Hillary Clinton issued statements lamenting an attack on “Easter worshippers.” Not Christians — “Easter worshippers.”

They could not bring themselves to name the victims, because doing so would disrupt the narrative.

Not only did Obama fail to acknowledge (much less do anything about) the Muslim persecution of Christians, he aided and abetted it (see numerous old articles and documented reports I wrote, starting back in 2012, here, here, here, here). In other words, there’s a reason that Trump has repeatedly said, “President Obama is the founder of ISIS.”

The Nigerian Problem

But it is perhaps in the context ofNigeria, where a bonafide genocide of Christianshas been taking placesince Obama first entered the White House, that the differences between him and Biden, on the one hand, and Trump on the other emerge most clearly.Keep in mind that, on average, a Nigerian Christian is killed for his religion every two hours.

Despite this, theObama administration refused for years to designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC), despite the ongoing slaughter of Christians there by Boko Haram and other jihadist groups. Hillary Clinton’s State Department even resisted labeling Boko Haram a terrorist organization — despite its record of murdering Christians and bombing churches at a scale exceeding that of ISIS.

Not until Trump came to power in 2020 was Nigeria finally designated a CPC. And unlike his predecessors,Trump didn’t mince words.

During a meeting withNigerian President Muhammadu Buhari — a man many Nigerians say Obama helped install — Trump asked him directly: “Why are you killing Christians?”

Contrast that with the Biden administration. In 2021, under Secretary of State AntonyBlinken, Nigeria was quietly removed from the CPC list. Human rights observers were appalled. As attorney Sean Nelson said at the time:

“No explanations have been given that could justify this decision. If anything, the situation in Nigeria has grown worse over the last year.Thousands of Christians are targeted, killed, and kidnapped, and the government is simply unwilling to stop these atrocities… Removing CPC status for Nigeria will only embolden the increasingly authoritarian government there.”

In short, at a time when truth is suffocating under the weight of politics and propaganda, Trump’s words about persecuted Christians matter. They are a rare acknowledgment of reality — and a crucial first step toward change.

https://stream.org/trumps-words-and-the-silence-of-others-on-the-persecution-of-christians/

Jerome Powell is competing to be the worst Fed chair in history

by Peter Navarro, opinion contributor - 07/07/25 7:00 AM ET1/2

By stubbornly refusing to lower interest rates despite ample data urging him to do so,Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is committing his third major policy blunder in six years.If he continues this tight-money path through the July 29 Fed meeting, “Too Late” Powell will go down as the worst Fed chair in history.

It’s not like Powell lacks stiff competition. In the 1970s, to boost Richard Nixon’s re-election run, uber partisanArthur Burns kept rates too low for too long, triggering a dizzying inflation spiral and a decade-long stagflation. In the 1990s,Alan Greenspan severely underestimated productivity gainsfrom the tech boom, over-estimated inflationary pressures, and needlessly hiked rates — six times between June 1999 and May 2000. This spiked the federal funds rate to 6.5 percent, triggering the dot-com market crash and 2001 recession.

A whiplashed Greenspan then slashed rates to rock-bottom levels and held them at 1 percent for a full year — from June 2003 to June 2004 — well beyond what the recovery warranted. This ultra-cheap money fueled reckless lending, a massive housing bubble, and ultimately detonated the 2007–2008 financial collapse.

Greenspan’s successor,Ben Bernanke, should have seen it coming. But the Princeton donfailed to grasp rising systemic risk in mortgage markets. His paralysis turned what might have been a contained correction into a full-blown global financial crisis — only intervening after Lehman Brothers fell, when it was already too late.

Now enters JayPowell. Even though he leads the world’s largest economy, he is a lawyer, not an economist— an anomaly among Fed chairs. Since Arthur Burns,every Fed chair has held an economics degree, except for G. William Miller and Powell. Miller was similarly unqualified and endured one of the most disastrous Fed tenures in recent memory spanning just 517 days before being replaced by the esteemedPaul Volckeron August 6, 1979.

Powell’s audition for “worst Fed chair” beganshortly after his February 2018 appointment. Promising President Trump in the Oval Office a supportive posture to secure his nomination, Powell instead aggressively raised rates into the low-inflation, high-growth Trump economy.

Powell wrongly believed Trump’s tax cuts and tariffs would spark inflation— they didn’t. Nor did Powell understand that Trump’s efforts to deregulate the economy and reach energy independence — positive “supply shocks” in the macroeconomics vernacular — would provide positive deflationary benefits.

As Powell’s Fed hiked interest rates four times in 2018—despite muted inflation and strong labor market gains — economic momentum slowed sharply. According to the Fed’s own September Tealbook,most of the expected GDP slowdown — from over 3 percent to 1.5 percent — was due to Powell’s blunder.

Trump was justifiably outraged over Powell’s first blunder. It would cost the American economy hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in lost economic output and tax revenues.

After Trump left the White House in January 2021, Powell successfully lobbiedJoe Bidenfor a second term. Throughout that year,the Powell-led Fed kept interest rates near zero, even as inflation surged past 5 percent by mid-year.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5381666-jerome-powell-is-competing-to-be-the-worst-fed-chair-in-history/

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Embracing the Biden-Yellen line that inflation was merely “transitory,” the pandering Powell refused to act. Despite growing warnings from economists and business leaders, Powell waited until March 2022 — more than a year after inflation had begun accelerating — before implementing the first interest rate hike since 2018.

By then, the damage was done. The Fed was forced into one of the most aggressive tightening cycles in history —11 hikes in 12 months — all to combat the inflation that Powell’s inaction had helped unleash.

Powell’s second major blunder here wasn’t just his late policy;it was his silent permissiveness. While a Democrat-controlled Congress passed over $2 trillion in unneeded and wasteful spending bills — in no small part to boost the Biden reelection campaign — Powell failed in his ethical duty to warn== the White House and Democrat-controlled Congress that this spending would worsen inflation. Instead, he let loose monetary policy and partisan fiscal profligacy collide, accelerating the very inflation he would soon be forced to chase.

Today, with inflation returning to target and disinflation gaining traction,Powell is well on his way to his third blunderwith his stubborn refusal to lower interest rates now. Powell seems incapable of recognizing that Trumponomics — driven by pro-growth deregulation, productivity-enhancing tax cuts, strategic tariffs, and America First supply chain policies — is again delivering strong GDP growth and low unemployment without fueling inflation, just as in Trump’s prosperous first term.

Powell’s misguided fixation on so-called tariff “uncertainties” as a rationale for “prudently” holding rates steady is particularly imprudent. Let’s remember clearly: during President Trump’s first term, we imposed tariffs strategically and aggressively — and the predicted inflation never materialized. Powell’s hesitation reflects a failure to learn from recent economic history, needlessly stifling growth, undermining American competitiveness, and harming millions of Americans.

At its next meeting July 29-30, the Fed must immediately begin cutting rates. If Powell won’t adjust course, he will indeed have earned the sobriquet of worst Fed chair.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5381666-jerome-powell-is-competing-to-be-the-worst-fed-chair-in-history/

7 Jul, 2025 16:37

Netanyahu lying about Tehran nuclear ambitions – Iran’s president to Carlson

The Israeli leader has worked since the 1980s to convince every US president that Tehran wants to create atomic weapons, Masoud Pezeshkian said

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent decades trying to deceive US presidents into believing that Tehran is seeking to create nuclear weapons, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has charged.

In an interview with conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson aired on Monday, Pezeshkian accusedNetanyahu of pushing this narrative long before he first became prime minister in 1996. “It was Netanyahu since 1984 who has created this false mentality that Iran seeks a nuclear bomb,” he said, referring to Netanyahu’s role as Israel’s envoy to the UN at the time.

“He has put it in the minds of every US president since then… [that] we would like to have a nuclear bomb,” he noted, stressing that Iran has never been developing such a weapon.“This is in contrast to the religious decree… issued by Iran’s supreme leader,”Pezeshkian added. He also noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had confirmed that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons.

Pezeshkian also accused Israel of deliberately sabotaging negotiations with the US on Iran’s nuclear program when West Jerusalem unleashed a powerful strike on Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, military sites, and top commanders on June 13.

“We were right in the middle of holding talks with the US… we were told that as long as we don’t give permission to Israel, they are not going to attack you,”he said.“But suddenly Israel torpedoed the negotiating table… they totally ruined and destroyed diplomacy.”(that is true, that's why Bibi came to the US and lied just days before the next talks with Iran)

The Iranian president confirmed that Iran was open to discussing supervision of its nuclear program. However, he argued that recent attacks on Iranian nuclear sites made monitoring virtually impossible for the time being. “We don’t have any access to them [nuclear sites]. We have to wait and see how much they have been damaged.”

Israel has long accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, with Netanyahu famously brandishing a cartoon bomb diagram at theUN in 2012to illustrate what he called Tehran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon. Israel also opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which the US later withdrew under President Donald Trump.

Before the 12-day war last month, the US and Iran were holding talks during which Washington demanded that Tehran abandon all uranium enrichment. Iran dismissed the demand, noting that enriched uranium is necessary to fuel its civilian nuclear energy program.

https://www.rt.com/news/621144-netanyahu-lying-tehran-nuclear-carlson/

• I agree with him, everyone knows Netanyahu has lied about Iran for many years, earlier about Iran and an atomic weapon, and Trump said he was very optimistic about the Iran talks before Bibi, dragged us into his “End of Times” project.

•Why don’t we the US, consider Israel a dangerwith all their atomic bombs, they have vowed if Israel is destroyed, they will destroy the world.

•“This is in contrast to the religious decree… issued by Iran’s supreme leader,”: If this is true, why didn’t they confirm that to the mediators, at the talks?

• It was also reported the Iran was somewhat belligerent in the talks, but Trump's optimism before Bibi unleased hell, is a clear flag.

• So when Bibi came to America a day or two before the next scheduled talks with Iran, it was obviously done to get the US into to war, and completely destroy all possibility of negotiations.

• Iran’s one problem is their Supreme leader is coming out with too many threats, and decrees, he is one problem in the situation.

7 Jul, 2025 14:50

Moscow working to release journalists detained in Baku – Kremlin

Russia is using all legal means to free its citizens in Azerbaijan, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, noting historically close ties between the two nations

Russian officials are working closely with the local authorities in Azerbaijan to secure the release of Russian citizens detained in the country, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He emphasized that Russia and Azerbaijan must strive to maintain their historically friendly relations despite the current tensions.

Several Russian nationals, including journalists working for the Sputnik Azerbaijan news agency, were arrested last week during a police raid on the outlet’s office in Baku. Authorities have accused the detainees, which include senior Sputnik editors Igor Kartavykh and Evgeny Belousov, of fraud and illegal business activity. Sputnik has dismissed the accusations as “absurd.”

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Peskov stated that Moscow is “in constant contact with the Azerbaijani side” and is “defending the interests of the detained Russian citizens using all legal avenues and the existing diplomatic practices.”

The spokesman said Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov and Investigative Committee head Aleksandr Bastrykin have also been in direct contact with their Azerbaijani counterparts.

Peskov underlined Russia’s commitment to maintaining its historically close relationship with Azerbaijan.“We continue to believe – and logic dictates – that Russia and Azerbaijan are and must remain close partners, allies, and countries with a common history, present, and future,” he said.

“All problems that arise must undoubtedly be resolved in a constructive manner that reflects the spirit of our bilateral relations,” Peskov stressed.

The arrest of Russian nationals in Baku came shortly after a Russian police raid in Ekaterinburg last week. The operation targeted an alleged organized crime group composed of Russian citizens of Azerbaijani origin. Two elderly suspects died during the raid, reportedly from heart failure and unspecified causes. Azerbaijani officials have claimed the men were beaten to death in custody and have opened a homicide investigation.

Since the Russian operation, Baku has taken a series of steps viewed by Moscow as retaliatory, including the raid on Sputnik’s office. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow has condemned the arrests as “unlawful” and summoned the Azerbaijani ambassador to lodge a formal protest.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned that “outside forces” may be trying to damage Russian-Azerbaijani relations. Speaking to reporters last week, she stressed that friendly ties remain essential for both nations and cautioned against efforts to escalate the dispute.

https://www.rt.com/russia/621147-kremlin-comments-azerbaijan-arrests/

7 Jul, 2025 15:09

UK official reveals shocking state of water supplies

Mismanagement escalated the risk of water rationing amid rising demand and supply shortages, a minister has said

The UK has been pushed to the brink of water rationing due to “years of mismanagement” of resources and insufficient infrastructure, the country’s environment minister has warned.

In an interview with The i Paper published on Monday, Steve Reed said the country was faced with adopting measures often seen in drought-hit Mediterranean nations.

”The public, by and large, were not aware that at the time of the last general election, this country was looking at water rationing within ten years,” Reed said, speaking one year after Labour’s election win. He warned that rebuilding the UK’s essential systems, including water infrastructure, “cannot be done over just five years.”

The strain on supply has increased due to growing demand from new industries such as battery factories and data centers, which require large volumes of water to cool their systems. “They can’t operate without vast amounts of water,” he said.

Reed added that without intervention, the UK faced rationing and water being turned off at certain times of the day.

The warning follows a record-breaking June heatwave in the UK, and as temperatures are expected to exceed 30C (86F) in parts of the country again this week.

The government has secured £104 billion (around $136 billion) for infrastructure upgrades over the next five years following a spending review by regulator Ofwat. The funds will be used to build reservoirs and reduce leakage, Reed said.

However, he warned that despite growing public demand for action, restoring the country’s water system would take more than five years.

Other countries facing similar challenges have adopted a range of water-saving measures. Spain has restricted household water access to a few hours per day during droughts, while Australia enforces tiered water bans during dry spells. Singapore recycles up to 40% of its water through advanced purification, and South Korea uses smart meters to monitor usage and leaks.

https://www.rt.com/news/621142-uk-water-rationing/