Headline News

Arab Spring Is Now Targeting Algeria

Algeria’s Islamists, in the political wilderness since their last attempt to win power dissolved into civil war, are now trying again, galvanized by the success of their brethren elsewhere in north Africa in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Published

15 years ago

December 8, 2011

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

(Reuters) – Algeria’s Islamists, in the political wilderness since their last attempt to win power dissolved into civil war, are now trying again, galvanized by the success of their brethren elsewhere in north Africa in the wake of the “Arab Spring”.

Riot policemen clash with university students from marching during a demonstration in which they demand political change in Algiers May 2, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Zohra Bensemra

Most Islamists in Algeria have been excluded from political life since the conflict, but in the past few months they have shown renewed signs of activity, much of it conducted from exile to dodge the attentions of the Algerian state.

They have set up a satellite television station based in Europe, sent delegations to Arab countries that saw revolutions this year, and made tentative forays into anti-government protests.

Their chances of success are slim: they are divided into rival ideological camps, hemmed in by the powerful Algerian security apparatus, and, most importantly, discredited in the eyes of many people by a conflict in which they took part and which killed an estimated 200,000 people.

But they see an opportunity in the upheavals of the “Arab Spring,” which have this year unseated entrenched secularist leaders. In neighboring Tunisia, a previously outlawed Islamist movement has come to power, while in Egypt Islamists have taken a strong early lead in multi-stage parliamentary elections.

“Tunisia was an example and launcher of this (Arab Spring) revolution,” said Abdullah Anas, a London-based member of the leadership council of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which is banned in Algeria.

“It could be a very good example for Algeria.”

LEGACY OF VIOLENCE

Any Islamist revival in Algeria, an OPEC member and supplier of about a fifth of Europe’s imported gas, would have first to shed the burden of the country’s bloody history.

Twenty years ago, FIS was poised to win a legislative election, called after street protests forced the authorities to loosen their grip on power. FIS said it would impose an Islamic state.

The military-backed government stepped in to annul the election. The Islamists took up arms and Algeria slipped into a conflict of horrific violence. Civilians had their throats slit in the street; in the mornings, people woke up to find their towns littered with bodies.

A rump of Islamists, now operating under the banner of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is still fighting. They periodically ambush security forces in the countryside, kidnap Westerners and stage suicide bombings.

But the violence has subsided considerably. A huge security crackdown has rounded up thousands of insurgents. Others have laid down their arms and been granted an amnesty, in exchange for an undertaking to stay out of politics.

This legacy is the biggest obstacle to any comeback by Algeria’s Islamists.

“Since then (the conflict), the Islamist was no longer seen as a hero who stands up against tyranny,” said Soheib Bencheikh, a theologian who used to be the chief cleric at the mosque in Marseilles, France, where there is a large Algerian community.

“On the contrary, he became, in the eyes of public opinion, accountable for the pain and suffering of the people,” Bencheikh told Reuters.

A fear of a return to violence helps explain why Algeria has this year remained relatively calm while neighboring countries have been convulsed by unrest.

TV STATION

But the Islamists still believe that Algeria is ripe for change, and are beginning to take practical steps.

Starting in November, a group of exiled Islamists with links to FIS set up a Europe-based television station, called Rachad TV. Carried by the Atlantic Bird 7 and Nilesat satellites , the station can be picked up in Algeria, where most homes have a dish.

It broadcasts political and social programs where opposition leaders and activists — most of them harshly critical of the government — are invited to comment on Algeria.

At the top of the station’s homepage on the Internet, there is a link to show viewers “how to free your country”, and a second link to help them “organize and participate in unrest.”

The exiles say they are also building contacts with other countries where “Arab Spring” revolts have propelled Islamists into a position of power.

Rachad says on its website that it sent a delegation to Libya in late September to meet officials in the new government, in which Islamists have a prominent role.

Abdullah Anas, the exiled Islamist in London, said there had also been contacts with Rachid Ghannouchi, the head of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. Since an election in October his party leads Tunisia’s coalition government.

Tunisia’s experience had proved that it is possible to open up the political space in north Africa, said Anas.

“Everyone in Algeria must understand that Algeria has room for all … no matter what opinions you have,” he said, calling for a lifting of political curbs and the possibility of power-sharing between previously antagonistic groups.

SALAFISTS STIRRING

Inside Algeria, the most influential Islamist force are the Salafists, followers of an ultra-purist interpretation of Islam. Unlike the FIS, they are tolerated by the Algerian state because their creed forbids participation in politics.

When Algeria was shaken at the beginning of this year by protests sparked by a spike in food prices, the spiritual leader of the Algerian Salafists, Abdelmalek Ramdani, who lives in Saudi Arabia, issued a religious decree.

It said: “As long as the commander of the nation is a Muslim, you must obey and listen to him. Those who are against him are just seeking to replace him, and this is not licit.”

Nevertheless, there are stirrings of political activity by some Salafist preachers.

Sheikh Abdelfateh Zeraoui, a former FIS member and now a well-known Salafist preacher in the Algerian capital, issued a declaration in October saying the government had to enact urgent reforms.

“Political reforms allowing us to have free political activity are key to the stability of the country. Without reforms the country may explode,” the declaration stated.

The preacher has also tried to organize protest marches in the capital, but these have been blocked by the security forces. “We have been barred from politics,” he told Reuters.

The fact that Algerian Islamists are divided dilutes their ability to stage a comeback, said Mohamed Mouloudi, an editor and specialist on Islam.

“They are no longer speaking with one voice,” Mouloudi told Reuters.

“You have the Salafists, the Muslim brotherhood, and the Djaz’airists,(who give priority to Algerian religious traditions) among others,” he said. “You have those who are for a political action, and those who consider political action as illicit.”

SUCCESSION DEBATE

Even so, a debate is now under way in earnest within the Algerian ruling elite, for the first time since the conflict began 20 years ago, about giving Islamists a role in politics.

The focus for that debate — which, like much of Algerian politics, is conducted behind closed doors — is the question of who will succeed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika when his final term ends in 2014.

One camp within the elite is backing Abdelaziz Belkhadem, a former prime minister and secretary general of the ruling FLN party. He is a secularist but is trusted by the Islamists. Opposing him is a camp of hardline secularists who have backing from the powerful security forces.

Friction spilled out into the open when a group of Belkhadem opponents inside the FLN launched a campaign to have him removed from the party leadership.

“It will be wise to promote a man like Abdelaziz Belkhadem who has good ties with Islamists as well as with decision makers inside the regime,” said Mohamed Lagab, a secularist academic at Algiers university.

“Decision makers should take into account that North Africa will be ruled by Islamists ,” said Lagab. source – Reuters

Related Topics:Algeria arab Islamists spring

Comments

Artificial Intelligence

THE PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST: It’s ‘Rise Of The Machines’ As Internet Crosses Threshold Of Automated AI Bot Traffic Now Outnumbering Human Web Traffic

Published

1 day ago

June 5, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

Rise Of The Machines As Bot Traffic Now Outnumbers Human Web Traffic, Showing How AI Agents And Automated Systems Are Rapidly Taking Control Of The Internet

I have been with the internet from the very beginning, learning how to make primitive HTML 1.0 web sites all the way back in 1994, to publishing one of the most-visited end times prophecy sites in the world, Now The End Begins. During all that time, I have watched at the internet has inserted itself deeper and deeper into our daily lives, to the point where every aspect of our lives are now run through it. So it is a tad shocking, albeit not surprising, to see AI bots swooping in to now take control of the whole thing. To what end? To the time of the prophets and the Days of Noah.

“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:17 (KJB)

On this episode of the Prophecy News Podcast, Cloudflare says that automated bot traffic has now passed human web traffic, with bots accounting for roughly 57.4% to 57.5% of HTTP requests across selected websites, compared with about 42.5% to 42.6% from humans. This is not merely about the old search-engine crawlers indexing websites for Google, Bing, or other platforms. The new wave is being driven by AI agents, scrapers, automated browsers, commercial bots, and machine-to-machine traffic operating at a scale human users cannot match. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said this shift happened faster than he expected, after previously projecting that bots would overtake human traffic closer to 2027. The spiritual application is obvious. Man built the internet thinking he was creating the ultimate human communication system, but it is rapidly becoming a machine-driven environment where automated intelligence increasingly mediates what people see, read, buy, believe, and trust. That is not a neutral development. It is part of the accelerating end-times infrastructure of control, surveillance, deception, and counterfeit knowledge. What we are watching is not simply a tech trend. It is the continued transformation of the internet from a human communications network into an automated control grid, where AI systems do the searching, filtering, summarizing, recommending, suppressing, ranking, and eventually transacting. The bots are no longer just visiting the web, they’re running it.

Study Helps And Links For Today’s Podcast

We Are Broadcasting Live Four Days A Week

The BIBLE BELIEVERS Sunday Service

Every Sunday morning, from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST, we invite you to join us live and in-person at the Bible Believers Church here inside the NTEB Bookstore in Palatka where we lift up the Lord Jesus Christ in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and preach a message from the pages of the King James Authorized Version Holy Bible.

OUR MOST RECENT SUNDAY SERVICE VIDEO: Chief Of Sinners

• The RIGHTLY DIVIDING Radio Bible Study

Every Sunday evening from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, we offer an in-depth rightly dividing and dispensationally correct rocket ride through the preserved word of God as found within the pages of the King James Holy Bible.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Our original Sunday Night Radio Bible Study, it’s from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, and we have praise, singing, testimony and of 90-minute King James Bible study. All our King James bible study programs are archived here.

• The NTEB PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST Hour

Every Monday and Friday afternoons from Noon to 1:30 PM EST, we examine breaking news and current events in light of bible prophecy.

MONDAY AT NOON: Every Monday at Noon we review all the latest news and events related to bible prophecy, and examine what is happening in light of what is written. If you miss the live show, all of our Prophecy News Podcast programs are archived here.
FRIDAY AT NOON: Friday at Noon we review all the latest news and events related to bible prophecy, and examine what is happening in light of what is written. If you miss the live show, all of our Prophecy News Podcast programs are archived here.

Your Generous Donations Make These Live King James Radio Bible Studies & Prophecy News Podcasts Possible!

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Listen to What Our Donation Angels Have to Say About the Ministry of Now The End Begins

“You are truly an end time ministry and I appreciate how our Precious Lord is using you to educate his very own flock. There is a lot of confusion , but your ministry is putting scripture in the right prospective. Thank-you so so much Geoffrey S Grider for standing firm and putting in a lot of hours of your time. God Bless You , also your Ministry and your family. IN JESUS MIGHT NAME.” T. Muto
“Jesus. I am now 64 years old and never in all the years I’ve been a Christian was I able to grow in the Lord as much as I have in the last past year. All because of our blessed brother’s work Geoffrey Grider who as the bravery of standing fast forward without fear of claiming the truth of God by the power of his love in Jesus Christ. May God bless you abundantly to the end my dear brother… ROMANS: 8: 36,37,38” Mireille Anderson
“I met you at the car dealership earlier this year. We spoke briefly, then you handed me a card and told me to check out the website. You left. A few minutes later, you returned to tell me not to forget to look up the website. I told you…” I already did. I already subscribed.” In that short time we spoke, I experienced from you…a total stranger…peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, compassion, and love. I am convinced that God sent you to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. For that, and for the work you are doing for the Kingdom of God, I say…Thank you and God Bless You.” Sonia Merced
“I really enjoy the emails and Bible studies! I haven’t found a church and enjoy your services very much! Be blessed brother!” Marcia Mann
“You and your organization are on the front lines in the Battle For Truth…. current events, end times, and trying to awaken a sleeping Laodicean Church. Thank you brother for fighting for us and all your teaching and insight God bless…” Daniel Cartrette
I just want to thank you for the teachings you give every Sunday night on radio. You are such a blessing to me. I absolutely love your way of teaching the scriptures. I don’t have a church where I can have fellowship and teaching, so you have been my teacher for many months now. Thanks God you are there for all of us who have no church to go to. I pray that the Lord will bless you abundantly in your ministry, and your loved ones too. You are such a blessing to me, and many others, in these last days before the rapture. Thank you so much Geoffrey, from the bottom of my heart. May the Lord keep you, until He comes back for us. You are in my prayers.” Donald Godin
“Thank you for the work you are doing brother. Your page and your testimony were a blessing to me this morning as I came across it for the first time. Thank you for the reality of your testimony and what God has done for you in introducing you to Jesus our Lord. God has brought me, in salvation, to Himself as well, through His love and mercy and grace in salvation. How can we praise Him enough? How can we not share this good news!? I pray this day for God’s blessing on your ministry that He may save many souls through the work He has called you to. Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)” Mark and Melissa
“Love the Sunday night bible study. I want to support someone who has the passion for the lost like Geoffrey does and rightly divides the word of God. God bless you.” Teresa Carey
“I give because not many news outlets are brave enough or Godly enough to tell these stories from a Christian’s point of view. I see stories here that will not be seen anywhere else.” William Grayshaw
“It’s hard to find solid biblical teaching in America these days. It’s a blessing to be able to take part in a ministry financially without being concerned about false teaching. All glory to God! God bless!” Maximilian Swan
“I donate because you are reporting the truth about the increasing wickedness of our time, as God’s word foretold. In so doing we are reminded to “Keep looking up” as we wait in joyful hope for the Lord’s coming, Maranatha! ” Anthony Sloane
“Geoffrey has the best End Times News out there. I have been receiving his emails for years now and always enjoy his Sunday night messages although I don’t always think exactly as he thinks. We are all in this “boat of life” together and as I come to the end of my life’s journey here, I am more aware of Jesus’s call for us to be one as He and the Father are One.” Deborah Cleaveland

STREET-TESTED NTEB GOSPEL TRACTS:

This is the official gospel tract of NTEB, used here on the streets of Saint Augustine and sent around the world as they are purchased through our website. We ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the work of Now The End Begins by purchasing a box of these full-color, high-quality gospel tracts. Thank you in advance!

street-preaching-kjv-gospel-tracts-nteb-now-the-end-begins-saint-augustine-florida

CLICK IMAGE TO ORDER YOUR BOX OF NTEB GOSPEL TRACTS

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s Iran War Sparks Stunning House Rebuke As Republican Defectors In Congress Expose Deep Cracks In The ‘America First’ Movement

Published

2 days ago

June 4, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

‘America First’ Fractures As House Congressional Republicans Join Democrats To Rebuke Trump Over His Unauthorized Iran War

The House vote to rebuke Trump over the Iran war is not merely a “symbolic” slap on the wrist — it is a warning flare from deep inside his own political camp. When Republican leadership has to argue that Congress exercising its constitutional war powers would “weaken the president’s hand,” what they are really admitting is that Trump’s hand is already weak. A strong president does not need Congress to surrender its authority in order to look strong at the negotiating table. The facade is slipping.

“Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.” Jeremiah 17:5 (KJB)

The resolution passed 215–208, with four Republicans joining Democrats to demand that Trump seek congressional authorization or withdraw from military action in Iran. That does not mean the entire Republican Party has abandoned him, but it absolutely means the old automatic loyalty is cracking. The vote came after earlier failed attempts, making this one politically significant because enough Republicans finally broke away to put it over the top. What makes this so damaging is the contradiction at the heart of Trump’s political brand. He ran as the man who would end endless wars, drain the swamp, confront the foreign policy establishment, and put America First. Yet here he is, presiding over another Middle East war, with Congress now having to drag the White House back toward the Constitution. That is not strength. That is the very Washington war machine Trump once promised to defeat.

CLICK TO SEE WHAT’S NEW AT THE BIBLE BELIEVERS BOOKSTORE!!

These GOP defectors are not simply siding with Democrats. They are exposing a fault line inside the MAGA movement itself. Is “America First” a real doctrine, or just campaign-stage decoration that gets tossed aside the moment the drums of war start beating? If Trump can wage war with Iran without clear congressional authorization, then the constitutional conservative argument collapses into personality worship. Republican leaders claim this vote weakens Trump in negotiations with Iran. No — the war weakened him. The rising costs weakened him. The lack of a clean exit weakened him. The failure to secure a durable settlement weakened him. Congress did not create the weakness; Congress exposed it.

The House resolution was opposed by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and most Republicans, who complained that it undermines Trump and his top negotiators when they are trying to secure a nuclear deal with Iran. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., called Wednesday’s action “just a total BS vote.” source

The House vote is a public rebuke of a president whose own party is beginning to realize that bravado is not strategy, escalation is not victory, and loyalty to Trump is not the same thing as loyalty to the US Constitution. For years, Republicans warned about unchecked executive power — until that power belonged to their man. Now, with American forces entangled in Iran and the War Powers clock already blown past, a few Republicans are finally remembering that Congress, not the president, has the authority to declare war. This is even bigger than a Capitol Hill fight. America is being pulled deeper into the Middle East firestorm while its leaders pretend they are in control. They are not. Iran, Israel, the Gulf, oil prices, military escalation, congressional rebellion — all of it points to a superpower strained, divided, and spiritually blind while the voice of the prophets grows louder by the day.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Free Bible Program

As Operation Africa! Continues To Grow, Prisons All Across America Are Reaching Out With A Desperate Need For King James And RVG Spanish Bibles

Published

3 days ago

June 3, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

Operation Africa! ramping up as Bibles Behind Bars reaches a fever pitch as chaplains all across the United States reach out for Bibles and books

Operation Africa! is off to a wonderful start, with hundreds of Bibles already delieverd and hundreds more going out this week. We are preparing to plant two churches, one in Uganda and one in Kenya, exciting stuff! But in the midst of all that, a flurry of Jails and Prisons have also reached out, looking for Bibles in King James English and in RVG Spanish.

“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” Hebrews 13:3 (KJB)

Here are just a few of the places we are sending Bibles to this month:

Chaplain Don Parton from the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office wrote and said “I am a Capt. with our department and one of my functions is Director of programs for inmates, also oversee our Reentry division. We would appreciate some Bibles in English and Spanish our facilities house 566 inmates with a population of 30% Spanish. Thank You!”

Chaplain Jason Cizek from the Danville City Jail wrote telling us “I oversee 4 jails with Danville being the largest. Altogether there’s about 500 inmates. Every piece of literature is gifted from donors. My goal is to consistently be able to supply Bibles to those incarcerated. Thank you.”

Chaplain Don Gillis from the Irwin County Detention Center, a facility that had closed during COVID and now reopened under Trump’s new immigration policy, wrote and said “Hello, we house immigration detainees for Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE). We are a relatively small facility having an 1100 bed capacity. The number of detainees being processed through our facility has increased greatly over the last couple of years. I allow and encourage the detainees to take their Bibles with them, if needed, when they leave our facility. This creates a constant need to resupply my inventory. I have been able to secure enough English Bibles but am unable to keep up with the demand for Spanish versions. I am, as of now, completely out of Spanish Bibles. Any help you could give will be greatly appreciated!”

The Lord has filled our plate to overflowing with the sending out of thousands of King James Bibles, RVG Spanish Bibles, scripture portions, gospel tracts and Christian books and literature. All sent out at completely no charge to the chaplains receiving it at the facilities where they work. All made possible by you who pray for this outreach, and who give sacrificially to keep it going all these years. Come help us!

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

If God has prospered you, please take a moment to click on the donate button to help us in this monumental task of providing King James Bibles, New Testaments, scripture portions, gospel tracts as well as Spanish Bibles to inmates in jails and prisons from Florida to Alaska, and every state in between. We need your prayers, we need your generous financial support, and we need you to stand with us in the closing days of the Church Age. Thank you so very much, TO THE FIGHT!!!

NOTE: If you need a 501 C3 Letter of Donation for tax purposes, please send your donation to:

NTEB Ministries
1340 N Great Neck Rd.
Ste. 1272-129
Virginia Beach, VA 23454.