Headlines:

• Peter Schiff: Market-Crushing Treasury Collapse To Hit Around 2013
• French-Israeli Journalist Calls on Paris to Rein in Muslims
• Tunisia constitution will not be Based on Islamic Law: Party
• US Poll: Record 69% Oppose Afghanistan War
• US Congressman calls Pakistan 'enemy' of US, and Looks to Dismember the Country

Details:

Peter Schiff: Market-Crushing Treasury Collapse To Hit Around 2013:

Peter Schiff, the divisive investor and commentator that predicted the subprime/real-estate bubble, is forecasting a U.S. dollar and bond crisis over the next couple of years. Schiff blames intervened bond markets, where rates are artificially and excessively low, and expects the coming crisis to blow the 2008-9 financial crisis out of the water. There is little doubt that the Federal Reserve, with Chairman Ben Bernanke at the helm, is holding markets by the hand. Bernanke, himself a divisive figure, has done all he can to push interest rates lower, using quantitative easing and Operation Twist once nominal rates had hit the zero-range. While many believe ultra-loose monetary policy is dangerous, Schiff thinks it will lead to a catastrophic correction. "The more you delay it, the bigger it will be," Schiff tells Forbes in a phone interview Tuesday, "so we need to raise interest rates during the recession to confront the inefficiencies." Schiff, who runs Euro Pacific Capital and is seen by many as permanently bearish, argues that government-intervened bond markets are leading to massive distortions in capital allocation that have only been exacerbated as the Fed reacted to the last couple of recessions. The controversial investor and commentator expects a massive crash over the next two to three years as a bond market bubble, coupled with the U.S. dollar, collapses under the weight of excessive debt. Schiff, like PIMCO's Bill Gross, doesn't believe in the current deleveraging cycle. While households have reduced their leverage, government debt has ballooned on the back of stimulus programs, but, argued Schiff, the government's debt is the people's debt, thus overall leverage has actually increased.

French-Israeli Journalist Calls on Paris to Rein in Muslims:

Toulouse-born Avraham Azoulai, editor-in-chief of Le P'tit Hebdo, a publication that caters to French speaking Jews worldwide, held a news conference Sunday, calling upon the French government to crack down on Muslim violence and on French media to stop demonizing Israel. Anti-Israeli incitement in the French press has brought about anti-Semitism, he charged. "We do not ask them to be pro-Israeli," he said of the French press, "but to stop inciting." Azoulai had a message for the French government, calling on it to "rein in the Muslim clans." A small percentage of the Muslims in France are "very violent" and the rest are influenced by the media, he explained. "They cannot hurt the IDF and Israel so instead of getting revenge on Israel, they go for the Jews, who cannot do anything."

Tunisia constitution will not be Based on Islamic Law: Party:

Tunisia's governing Islamist party said it will not support making sharia, or Islamic law, the main source of legislation in a new constitution and will maintain the secular nature of the state. Ennahda's stance on an issue that has increasingly polarised the country since its January 2011 revolution was criticised by hardline Islamists who wanted full-blown sharia, but welcomed by secular parties. Ennahda, which emerged as the biggest party in Tunisia's first democratic elections last year, said Monday it would keep the first article of the 1956 constitution in the new basic law now being drafted. The article enshrines the separation of religion and state, stating that: "Tunisia is a free, independent and sovereign state, its religion is Islam, its language is Arabic and it is a republic." "We are not going to use the law to impose religion," Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi told journalists after the moderate Islamist party's constituent committee voted to maintain the constitutional article by 52 votes to 12. The article, he added, "is the object of consensus among all sectors of society; preserving Tunisia's Arab-Muslim identity while also guaranteeing the principles of a democratic and secular state." Islam is Tunisia's official religion and while the constitution stipulates the president should be a Muslim, the state is mostly secular. Some had voiced concern that Ennahda would seek to curb women's rights and other liberties in an Arab country known for its progressive laws. But Ghannouchi said the Islamist party would not "introduce ambiguous definitions into the constitution that risk dividing the people", adding that "many Tunisians do not have a clear image of sharia and erroneous practices in certain countries have aroused fear."

US Poll: Record 69% Oppose Afghanistan War:

In the wake of controversies involving the burning of Qurans and a U.S. Army staff sergeant's alleged murder of 17 Afghan civilians, support for the war in Afghanistan has dropped precipitously among the American public, a new survey shows. Indeed, 69 percent of respondents said that the United States should not be involved in Afghanistan, the highest ever measure since CBS News/New York Times started asking the question in 2009. In addition, a majority - 53 percent - said that Americans should no longer be fighting in the conflict, report the two news outlets. Only 23 percent believe that America is "doing the right thing" by fighting in Afghanistan, down from 36 percent in Nov. 2011. These perceptions appear to be led by the impression that the war is going quite poorly for the United States - 68 percent thought the war was going "somewhat badly" or "very badly," a staggering rise from the 42 percent who believed this in November, the Times poll found. There was a general consensus among both Republicans and Democrats that the war is not proceeding well. Among Republicans, 60 percent said that the war was going somewhat or very badly, compared with 68 percent of Democrats. The difference when it comes to members of the two parties is that Republicans were more likely to want to stay in Afghanistan for as long as it would be necessary to stabilize the country's condition: three in 10 said the U.S. should remain, compared with two in 10 independents and 1 in 10 Democrats. And within the Republican Party itself, voters are split over the issue of when to withdraw from Afghanistan. A plurality of Republicans, 41 percent, say that the U.S. should withdraw sooner than the planned withdrawal date in 2014, compared with only 28 who prefer the existing timetable and 29 percent who believe American troops should stay as long as it takes.

US Congressman calls Pakistan 'enemy' of US, and Looks to Dismember the Country:

US Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher on Tuesday said that the Government of Pakistan was radical, and supported the Taliban, there by an enemy of the United States and freedom. Rohrabacher made these statements while addressing a press conference on the subject of Balochistan at the National Press Club. Reps. Steve King and Rep. Louie Gohmert, who were co-sponsors of his house concurrent resolution on the right of self-determination for Baloch, accompanied him at the press conference. Rep. Rohrabacher, who mispronounced Baloch as Bal-ook for the entirety of the press conference, dispelled allegations that he was being paid by a lobby or an individual for raising the cause of the Baloch people. He said that Pakistan was murdering women and children in Balochistan. He said that his trips to the region came from committee funds that were in turn financed by US taxpayers. In response to a question, he said that he has also raised the issue of human rights in Kashmir in the past, and said that certain people were purposely raising the issue of Kashmir to deflect attention from the issue of Balochistan. Rep. Rohrabacher, who is also the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, said that he was one of Pakistan's best friends in the past. The US Congressman said, "Pakistan decided to be enemies of the US years ago." He said that during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan was sending money to radicals who hated the United States. He alleged that Pakistan has an "anti-American" relationship with China. Congressman Louie Gohmert said that Pakistan was not only supporting the Taliban, but was also terrorising the Baloch. He said that the Baloch people wanted the right to freedom. When asked about the statements by the Indian and US Government who have said that they support Pakistan's territorial integrity, the Republican representative said that they are trying to change the US policy, and the Balochistan resolution was an effort to start a national debate on Balochistan.

At dawn on Thursday 15th March 2012, the blessed revolution in Syria entered its second year. Last year was a tragic year, in every sense, in which the criminal Syrian regime committed heinous crimes, so proving that it is the primary enemy of the Syrian people.

These people have proved their faith gives them life. They have given the finest examples of patience, fortitude, bearing of sacrifice and the determination to change this regime and throw it into the dustbin of history.

They have watered their blessed land with their pure blood, after crushing fear with their feet. And they remain determined to crush the tyrant of Sham and its criminal security regime, together with all of the security gangs, media lackeys and anyone who protects it - namely the unjust international system and the manmade international law that protects and helps the oppressor against the oppressed.

It is only their belief in Allah ta'ala which has created within the Syrian people this superior ability to bear sacrifice and determination to change the regime.

They responded to the regime's attempts to humiliate them by shouting "we will never kneel except to Allah."

They responded to its attempts to divert them towards secularism by saying: "It is for Allah! It is for Allah!"

The dissenting army brigades chose names of the Sahabah; thus all Muslims inside and outside Syria started to smell the fragrance of the hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah salla Allahu alaihi wasallam: "The centre of Islam's land is in Sham."

Just as this was a good sign for the Muslims, it was a bad sign and a source of fear for the West, which recognized that the rebels inside Syria are motivated by Islam, unlike the secular opposition outside Syria that has no popularity to allow them to pursue Western interests in the future.

We, in Hizb ut-Tahrir in Syria, are pleased to deliver to you a warm call, asking Allah that it finds listening ears and conscious hearts:

We appeal to our people in blessed Syria:

By your faith, patience and sacrifices you have crushed of the fear, cowardice and defeat of men that the miserable Syrian regime practiced against you for more than forty years.

You have exposed every hypocrite and agent until people find themselves in one of two camps: a camp of faith having no hypocrisy in it, and a camp of hypocrisy having no faith in it.

In one year you have revived the hope in the whole Ummah of the return of the Khilafah "Caliphate" State and its shining history.

We congratulate you for what you have done; and may Allah bestow upon you that which He bestows upon His sincere slaves.

We in Hizb ut-Tahrir stress that you must take Islam alone as basis of your revolution - drawn from its ‘aqeedah and built on its foundation, rather than on the basis of an immoral secularism or a disbelieving democracy - for these are not your garments. Islam alone is your garment.

So, we sincerely invite you to make nothing less than the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" as the target for your revolution.

Beware not to fall like your brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen have fallen - where their revolution has been stolen and the blood of their martyrs sold; such that their revolutions have become in need of revolutions.

To those of our people in Syria who have not yet moved against the tyrant of Sham, we ask this: What are you waiting for?! Can you accept for the deen to be disgraced, where the mosques are shelled, prayers are prevented, jum'ah prayers are disrupted and copies of the Quran are torn?! If you do not rise up for your deen, for the honor of your sisters, or for the killing of your relatives and the sons of your deen, for what would you rise up for?!

Once you stand by your deen and your people in their revolution in all regions there will be no place left for this current system to stand. This is a legal duty you are obliged to undertake, and you have no choice in that. Otherwise Allah ta'ala will let down those who let down his deen and Ummah.

We call upon the ‘Ulema of Syria:

Allah, ta'ala has taken covenant upon you that you explain the Truth to the people and do not hide it. The first thing you must explain in Syria is the obligation of overthrowing the disbelieving regime so as to establish the rule of Allah in its place. The responsibility upon you is greater when the demonstrations set out from the mosques, and after the jum'ah prayers. So be the true leaders of the people and commit yourselves to the method of the Messenger of Allah salla Allahu alaihi wasallam regarding bringing change, for you are most worthy of it.

You must also warn the people of the dangerous calls of democracy, secularism and the civil state; and which demand foreign intervention and beg for solutions from the UN Security Council, the enemy of the Ummah. These are seditious calls, which have no answer except with the sincere belief that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wasallam told us of in the hadeeth narrated by Ahmad: "Indeed faith is when tribulations take place in Sham." Who other than the ‘ulema would carry the responsibility of revealing these tribulations and explaining the true faith regarding them?

We appeal to the sincere Muslim people in authority in the Syrian army:

Your splits from the ruling faction revealed the genuine nature of your souls when you refused the orders of the regime to kill your people.

Naming your brigades after the names of the noble Sahabah was evidence of your love to Allah, His Messenger, his Sahabah and his great deen of Islam.

We see you have been reached by the deception from the Western States and their tools - the rulers in the region. So we warn you about the claims that you have been armed by the enemies of Islam, for this involve compromise on your deen and your principles. So, be careful of the enemies of Allah - and of those who visit them in their countries and their embassies from the suspicious secular external opposition. Do not give your leadership to any one of these.

Let all the honest Muslim people of authority in the Syrian army (the dissidents and those who have not yet dissented) realize that there is a legal duty, which obliges them to unite their efforts with the efforts of the army officers in the Syrian army who in fact work to establish the Khilafah "Caliphate". This is the same duty, which the ansaar (supporters) of the Messenger of Allah salla Allahu alaihi wasallam performed; that is to overthrow the rule of the tyrant now present in Sham and delivering the authority to Hizb ut-Tahrir, which have prepared itself to establish a rightly guided Khilafah "Caliphate" on the model of prophethood, so as to rule with the divine law of Allah.

We appeal to the Ummah:

Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala has addressed you in His Book that you are one Ummah, and that you are the best Ummah raised up for mankind. The Messenger salla Allahu alaihi wasallam has also addressed you that you are an Ummah distinct from other people, the most common among you can give pledge of protection to anybody, which is binding the most prominent of them; and you are all united against anyone other than you. And you have in the hadeeth of the Messenger salla Allahu alaihi wasallam the decisive speech: «Whoever lets down a Muslim when his sanctity is violated and his honour is disgraced, Allah ta'ala would let him down at a time he wants to be helped. And whoever helped a Muslim when his honour is disgraced and his sanctity is violated Allah would help when he likes to be helped. » (Ahmad)

We, in Hizb ut-Tahrir, ask Allah to take our call to every believer and every fair person and every conscious person. And we ask Him ta'ala to hasten His help and His relief to the people of Syria; to make the plot of the oppressors return to their throats; to make their destruction in their own planning; and, at the end of this crisis, to give us two joys: the joy of the fall of the tyrant, and the joy of the declaration of the rightly guided Khilafah "Caliphate". For indeed He is responsible of that and Able to fulfill. Walhamdu lillahi Rabbil A'alameen.

{ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ }

He says: (O you who believe! Respond to Allah and the Messenger when he calls you to that which revives you -and know that Allah stands between man and his heart, and you will be gathered together to Him.)

A joint meeting of the Peoples' Assembly and the Shura Council (in Egypt) voted that the constitution drafting committee would be composed by 50% parliamentarians and 50% people from outside parliament, made up of public figures, organizations and institutions.

• UK Muslim juror who refused to take veil off is ordered to stand down by judge because he wouldn't be able to see her facial expressions
• Saudi sends military gear to Syria rebels: diplomat
• U.S. war game sees perils of Israeli strike against Iran
• India eyes Pakistani route for Afghan mine access
• Malaysian Muslim leaders slam Christian conversion attempts

Details:

UK Muslim juror who refused to take veil off is ordered to stand down by judge because he wouldn't be able to see her facial expressions:

A Muslim woman was barred from serving on a jury yesterday because she refused to remove her veil. In an extraordinary ruling, a judge said she could not sit on an attempted murder trial because her full face covering, known as the niqab, concealed her expressions. The woman was about to take the oath in the case at Blackfriars Crown Court in London when the judge interrupted to ask if she was prepared to remove the garment which covered her whole face, apart from a narrow slit through which her eyes could be seen. Judge Aidan Marron QC, said it was ‘desirable' that her face was ‘exposed' during the trial and asked her to remove the veil. When she refused she was told to stand down and a white male member of the jury pool was sworn in her place. In the presence of the rest of the jury, Judge Marron said: ‘I wonder whether I can address the lady who is veiled. ‘Would you prefer not to remove your veil in this particular case?' The woman, who was wearing western clothing including a fitted grey jacket, replied: ‘Yes.' Judge Marron added: ‘I entirely understand that, but in this particular case it is desirable that your face is exposed, so I'm going to invite you to stand down. I hope you understand.'

Saudi sends military gear to Syria rebels: diplomat:

Saudi Arabia is delivering military equipment to Syrian rebels in an effort to stop bloodshed by President Bashar al-Assad's regime, a top Arab diplomat said a few days ago. "Saudi military equipment is on its way to Jordan to arm the Free Syrian Army," the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. "This is a Saudi initiative to stop the massacres in Syria," he added, saying that further "details will follow at a later time." The announcement came two days after the conservative Sunni-ruled kingdom said it had shut down its embassy in Syria and withdrawn all its staff. It also followed a brief meeting on the Syrian crisis last week between Jordan's King Abdullah II and the Saudi monarch King Abdullah in Riyadh. There was no official reaction to the statement from the Saudi capital, but Jordan flatly rejected the report."Jordan categorically denies the report," government spokesman and information minister Rakan Majali told AFP.

U.S. war game sees perils of Israeli strike against Iran:

A classified war simulation held this month to assess the repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran forecasts that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials. The officials said the so-called war game was not designed as a rehearsal for American military action - and they emphasized that the exercise's results were not the only possible outcome of a real-world conflict. But the game has raised fears among top American planners that it may be impossible to preclude American involvement in any escalating confrontation with Iran, the officials said. In the debate among policy makers over the consequences of any Israeli attack, that reaction may give stronger voice to those in the White House, Pentagon and intelligence community who have warned that a strike could prove perilous for the United States. The results of the war game were particularly troubling to Gen. James N. Mattis, who commands all American forces in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia, according to officials who either participated in the Central Command exercise or who were briefed on the results and spoke on condition of anonymity because of its classified nature. When the exercise had concluded earlier this month, according to the officials, General Mattis told aides that an Israeli first strike would be likely to have dire consequences across the region and for United States forces there.

India eyes Pakistani route for Afghan mine access:

India will explore a route through Pakistan to transport iron ore from Afghanistan, the head of a consortium involved in the $11 billion project said, hoping that economic benefits will outweigh political hostility. Despite a spike in tension in Afghanistan and uncertainty over the future once foreign combat forces leave in 2014, India was committed to developing the Hajigak mines and a 6 million tonne steel plant alongside, CS Verma, chairman of Steel Authority of India, told Reuters in an interview. A contract is to be signed in two months in what will be the biggest foreign investment in Afghanistan's resources sector, larger than the $4.4 billion the Chinese are investing in the Aynak copper mine. Mining work is expected to begin in late 2014 just when Afghan security forces take over security responsibilities and it remains a big concern whether they will be able to tackle a Taliban insurgency at its worst. For the Indians, the challenge of transporting the ore out of the landlocked country is an additional issue given they have no direct access. Pakistan is the obvious route and the alternative is a longer way westwards to Iran and then shipping it through the port of Chabahar that India has promoted to reduce Afghanistan's dependence on Pakistan. But Verma told Reuters that the consortium made up of seven state and private firms was looking to move the ore along Pakistani roads crossing over to India, believing the benefits far outweighed political hostility between the two countries. "What we have here is a gold mine, more than just an iron mine. I believe this is what everyone else will eventually realise. Ultimately the economic interests of everyone in the region including Pakistan will take precedence".

Malaysian Muslim leaders slam Christian conversion attempts:

"There is a movement from the Christians, a group who are trying to convert the Muslims through various means. For example, they use the approach of helping the poor, by giving all kinds of aid..." Malaysian Muslim leader, Ibrahim Ali says. The leaders argue that criminalizing proselytizing acts could caution people who embark on conversion efforts in a country in which Islam is the official religion. Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has called on Muslims and Christians to remain calm. In Malaysia, converting Muslims is illegal according to the Federal Constitution. The matter attracted attention late last year when Islamic authorities stormed into a church following a tip-off that it was subtly converting Muslims living below the poverty line. While Muslims say they have evidence proving such attempts, Malaysian Christians deny involvement in trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.