U.S. on World Stage Bowing to an Audience of None

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I love my country and want the best for her, but recently, the behavior of U.S. foreign policy wonks has reminded me for all the world of the Black Knight scene from the movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” where a knight fights a dual with King Arthur and starts to lose his limbs one by one, yet keeps on brashly daring the king to keep fighting, calling him a coward as the latter gallops off leaving just the Black Knight’s erect torso and angrily screaming head on the ground.

It’s a bit gruesome but click here if you have a strong stomach (starts at about minute 1:00). Kindly let me explain why this imagery fits the U.S. political class to a t.

American Neocons are shrieking that Iran is about to nuke the U.S. Ted Cruz wants to nuke them first and so does his proposed secretary of state John Bolton. Mark Levin also wants to nuke Iran and just recently said:

“And in fact, if they can get ’em [the nukes] on their ICBM’s, they’re going to attack our West Coast. And the reason the French and the Germans are concerned – yes, because of Israel, but also for themselves – is because they happen to be a little closer to that neighborhood than we do [sic].”

So what are we waiting for, Folks? Don’t we need to preemptively strike ASAP and save the U.S. and Europe?

Well, first let’s do a little fact checking, shall we, Mr. Levin? Europe is not was worried about Iran nuking them as they are about U.S. paranoia over Iran and especially about the Congress’ letter to Iran saying in no uncertain terms that it won’t accept any negotiated settlement with them. That leaves the distinct impression that the U.S. is ready to shoot first and ask questions later, against a country armed with nukes.

At least that’s what Europe’s top foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeir, said at a conference in Washington.

But beyond that, you need to ask yourself:

Why would Iran be the one country to nuke the U.S.?

North Korea has threatened the same thing for years and no one has suggested nuking them because no one takes them seriously. Pakistan also has nukes and has threatened India.What’s different about Iran?

Iran will not do anything that Putin would disapprove of. Russia is its most favored trading partner, and the worst thing that could happen to Russia and China (they’re allies you know) would be to lose one of the most important partners they have, ie, the U.S. A completely ruined and highly radioactive US could purchase nothing from China and this situation would lead to worldwide poverty. Iran knows that too.

Further, the Iranian people would revolt if the government nuked us because they do not hate the U.S. despite all the hate mongering out of Tehran.

Besides that, there is this thing called mutually assured destruction (MAD), which Israeli military analyst Daniel Greenfield said years ago is the reason nuclear powers don’t have to reasonably fear each other. They know that if they fire off a nuke to the U.S., another 50 nukes will come roaring right back at them on MIRVs. The U.S. would respond with nukes from multiple subs in the Mediterranean or the Black Sea and Iran would be toast. They might be big mouthed but they can do math. And if they really wanted collective martyrdom, would they put so much effort into negotiating with countries like Russia and the U.S. over trade deals? That’s a lot of trouble for a nation that thirsts for death.

What most people don’t realize is that there is a lot more to this huffing and puffing over Iran than meets the eye. The U.S. has had a petrodollar agreement with Saudi Arabia since 1973, under which the Saudis agree to insist in perpetuity to be paid in U.S. dollars in exchange for U.S. military “protection” (defined very broadly). Since then, coincidentally, every single one of our wars has benefited the Saudis, as shown here, without benefiting the U.S., and especially Middle Eastern Christians.

Since our good and loyal allies the Saudis are Wahhabi Sunnis, the most violent and anti-Christian sect in the world, the wars fought by U.S. 2 (per my definition here), like the one in Iraq, invariably wind up killing their rivals (generally countries that have not threatened us, notably Libya), which are one or more of the following more-harmless groups:

  1. Shiites (Iranian population and government, Syrian and Iraqi governments)
  2. Secularists (Qaddafi, Mubarak, etc… Al Sisi is an exception because he has struck a deal with the Saudis and is now helping them in the Yemen conflict. It’s a variant of the petrodollar agreement – mutual protection instead of protection of the Saudis in exchange for demanding settlement for all oil transactions in U.S. dollars)
  3. Christians and other minorities in the Middle East.

Even our war in Kosovo was waged with the Saudis’ blessings. They have sent billions in aid to the illegal-immigrant Albanian Muslims there. Did you ever read anywhere that Kosovo is a new Muslim state, thanks to the U.S. military? No, you didn’t because the media don’t want to worry you with that detail, but you can Google it if you have a stomach for truth. Yes, Washington (U.S. 2 ) and NATO created a Muslim state out of a Christian country (Serbia), just what the Saudis ordered.

As for Israel, it is in a tight spot, like the U.S., and because of this, it believes it must do whatever it can to placate the Saudis, who largely control ISIS, their protégé. Moreover, despite their bravado, Middle Eastern Jews (along with their Christian brothers) have spent 2 millennia groveling in dhimmitude to survive. As far as its standing with the Saudis is concerned, attacking Iran would be just the ticket for Israel. Naturally, it would benefit Saudi Arabia more than Israel, which would draw fire from all over the Muslim world and could trigger a nuclear war that no one wants. But Netanyahu is willing to gamble as long as U.S. Neocons can deceive enough of us sheeple into supporting a preemptive strike. Mark Levin believes he is helping Israel by urging the U.S. to wage war on Iran, but he is in fact only helping one political party there, the one willing to risk his country’s security in a high stakes gamble. The more-orthodox Jews in Israel and the U.S., think it is dangerous to antagonize Iran. But don’t tell that to John Hagee’s congregation. Hagee is Netanyahu’s most valuable link to American Christianity and has come up with the blood moon tetrad theory, or at least he “borrowed” credit for it from its originator Mark Biltz, and now he says God wants us to must commit Iranocide. And we know how honest Hagee is. (You can read about Hagee’s integrity in WND’s article Hagee Hit with Demand Letter over 4 Blood Moons.)

We must also consider that Iran comes in a package with Russia and Russia comes in a package with China, the world’s biggest economy and military, and all of Europe and most of Asia has now sided with China against the U.S. by joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a formidable rival to the U.S.-dominated World Bank. It is all over the news and we are being told it is just a speed bump but the goal is dedollarization of world trade. Finally, and here is the clincher: The Saudis have joined Europe and the rest against the U.S. by joining the Chinese bank, as pointed out here.  But, you say, aren’t the Saudis supposed to be upholding the petrodollar so that the Fed can issue new dollars to their hearts’ content? So then why did they join the “de-collarization club”? Oops!

Looks like the petrodollar agreement might be toast. You can guess what that means for the U.S. dollar.

It all reminds me of that old song “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave me, Lucille.” The US elites could sing: You picked a fine time to leave me, planet earth.

So does anyone really think this is a good time for a soon-to-be de-dollarized (i.e., impoverished) America with no friends left to start a war with a country with nukes that has friends with nukes?

Obama “blowing up our alliances to secure a deal that paves Iran’s way to a bomb”

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Why is Obama so avid to have this deal that he will make disastrous concessions to the Iranians and throw U.S. allies under the bus to get it? Does he really, really want Iran to have nuclear weapons? Is this really all about enabling Iran to destroy Israel?

“Obama Admin Threatens U.S. Allies for Disagreeing with Iran Nuke Deal,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, March 27, 2015:

LAUSANNE, Switzerland—Efforts by the Obama administration to stem criticism of its diplomacy with Iran have included threats to nations involved in the talks, including U.S. allies, according to Western sources familiar with White House efforts to quell fears it will permit Iran to retain aspects of its nuclear weapons program.

A series of conversations between top American and French officials, including between President Obama and French President Francois Hollande, have seen Americans engage in behavior described as bullying by sources who spoke to theWashington Free Beacon.

The disagreement over France’s cautious position in regard to Iran threatens to erode U.S. relations with Paris, sources said.

Tension between Washington and Paris comes amid frustration by other U.S. allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Israel. The White House responded to this criticism by engaging in public campaigns analysts worry will endanger American interests.

Western policy analysts who spoke to the Free Beacon, including some with close ties to the French political establishment, were dismayed over what they saw as the White House’s willingness to sacrifice its relationship with Paris as talks with Iran reach their final stages.

A recent phone call between Obama and Hollande was reported as tense as the leaders disagreed over the White House’s accommodation of Iranian red lines.

Amid these tensions, U.S. Ambassador to France Jane Hartley met with her French counterpart, Gerard Araud, Monday to discuss a range of issues.

Benjamin Haddad, who has advised senior French political figures on foreign policy issues, said leaders in Paris have not been shy about highlighting disagreements they have with the White House.

“Fance [sic], like other European countries, has negotiated for more than 10 years and endured most of the sanctions’ burden,” said Haddad, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute.

“The French want a deal, but they see no rush and repeat that Iranians need a deal more than we do, and that we shouldn’t fix artificial deadlines that put more pressure on us than Iran.”

One source in Europe close to the ongoing diplomacy said the United States has begun to adopt a “harsh” stance toward its allies in Paris.

“There have been very harsh expressions of displeasure by the Americans toward French officials for raising substantive concerns about key elements of what the White House and State Department negotiators are willing to concede to Iran,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “That is because the clarifications expose just how weak the Americans’ deal is shaping up to be.”

“The meeting between the French ambassador in Washington and the president’s envoy to Paris—not a diplomat but a big fundraiser for his campaigns—comes amid these very harsh words that were spoken privately about the ambassador’s recent comments on the seeming American desperation for a deal, and the tough words that President Obama had for President Hollande in their phone call.”

Strategic differences remain between the United States and its allies over how a final deal should look, the source said. The French remain opposed to a recent range of concessions made by the Obama administration.

“We may agree that denying Iran a nuclear weapon ability is the goal, but apparently the view of what one can leave Iran and assure that is very different,” the source said.

“Clearly these are the differences that must be discussed. I don’t see France suddenly deciding that America is right and French objections to weakness are wrong, nor that silence is preferable to transparency.”

Haddad said the French are hesitant to rush into an agreement.

“The French want a robust deal with clear guarantees on issues like [research and development] and inspections to ensure that Iranians won’t be able to reduce breakout time during the duration of the agreement (also an issue of discussion), or just after thanks to research conducted during the period,” he said. “That is also why they disagreed on lifting sanctions.”

He also said the French “don’t trust Iran and believe an ambiguous deal would lead to regional proliferation.”

Another Western source familiar with the talks said the White House is sacrificing longstanding alliances to cement a contentious deal with Iran before Obama’s term in office ends.

“The President could be hammering out the best deal in the history of diplomacy, and it still wouldn’t be worth sacrificing our alliances with France, Israel, and Saudi Arabia—key partners in Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, and the Gulf,” the source said. “But he’s blowing up our alliances to secure a deal that paves Iran’s way to a bomb.”…

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Obama’s Revenge Unleashed on Israel

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President Obama and his staff are using the prop of the J Street Conference in Washington, D.C. this week to unleash an unparalleled attack on Israel in revenge, many believe, for Netanyahu’s electoral victory. It is reflected in the President’s press conference, yesterday, in which he blamed Israel for the impasse effectively ending negotiations for a Palestinian state, suggesting to some possible moves to achieve that goal at the UN Security Council. The same venue the President hopes to obtain a UN resolution for approval of the political framework for an Iran nuclear deal, effectively sidelining Congress.

mcdonough and obama pat dollard

White House Chief of Staff McDonough and President Obama. Source: Pat Dollard.

Earlier this week, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough ‘rock star’ appearance at the J Street Conference aligning the Administration with Palestinian and Hamas rhetoric to end the occupation of the disputed territories, Judea and Samaria saying “50 years of occupation must end”. This follows Israeli President giving the nod to Netanyahu to form a ruling a coalition with a majority of the elected Knesset, 67 seats. Obama’s anger at Netanyahu stems from the latter’s address at a joint meeting of Congress on March 3rd at the invitation of U.S. House Speaker Boehner followed by the letter of Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) signed by 46 colleagues sent to the leaders of the Islamic Republic. More recently, there are allegations that Israel may have spied on US Iran negotiations and then briefed members of Congress. Moreover, it appears that Israel’s calls to combat what PM Netanyahu has called a “very bad deal” has led to consultations with France’s Foreign Minister Fabius who has stiffened resistance to any deal with Iran unless it is demonstrably “fool proof.”

The Wall Street Journal published a lead editorial in today’s edition, “Obama’s Israel Tantrum”, suggesting that “the leader of the free world tales revenge on an ally”:

Even if you believe the main challenge in the region is getting Israel to cede more territory to the Palestinians, that day won’t happen until Israelis feel secure. But Israelis can be forgiven for feeling the opposite with a raging civil war in Syria, Islamic State and an offshoot of al Qaeda operating near the Golan Heights, Iranian General Qassem Soleimani leading Shiite militias in Iraq, and a U.S. Administration sounding and acting as if Iran can be a more constructive partner for peace than Israel.

The main threat to Middle Eastern peace today—even beyond Islamic State—is the rise of an imperial Iran using its own troops or proxies effectively to colonize Arab capitals. The prospect of an imperial Iran on the cusp of becoming a nuclear power has all of America’s traditional Arab friends in the region now closer to Mr. Netanyahu’s position on the Middle East than to Mr. Obama’s.

“We cannot simply pretend that those comments were never made.” These were the words Mr. McDonough used in his speech about Mr. Netanyahu’s election comments.

But Mr. McDonough’s words might be easily turned around. In a day when the President’s chief of staff invokes the lexicon of Palestinian terrorists to describe Israel’s democracy, Americans and the world are left to wonder whose side the leader of the free world is on. (Read More)

President Obama has unleashed revenge on Israel and PM Netanyahu outraged that the Jewish nation would assert its sovereign right to defend its people against the existential and conventional threats of Iran whose rising nuclear hegemony threatens the Middle East and the US. Israel’s Netanyahu is thwarting Obama’s rapprochement with Mahdist Iran over cooperation in the war against ISIS and concluding a political agreement enabling Iran to achieve nuclear breakout. Witness the air intelligence CENTCOM is providing Iranian Quds Force Gen. Suleymani orchestrating the battle to retake Tikrit in Iraq. The vicious attack on Israel blaming it for not concluding a peace deal with the implacable enemies the PA and partner Hamas may reflect the President’s frustration at not succeeding to work behind the scenes to topple Netanyahu in the 2015 Knesset elections. That backfired when Israelis went to the polls and returning Netanyahu to a fourth non-consecutive term. But we knew this was coming. Just prior to the Israeli elections, the President appointed long term enemy of Israel, Robert Malley to be overall head of Middle East Policy, whose goal is imposing a draconian peace deal on Israel. As Israelis and US supporters of the Jewish nation, like South Carolina US Senator Lindsey Graham, know, unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 resulted in Iranian and home grown rockets raining all over Israel triggering three wars. Save for the Iron Dome system, enormous casualties would have resulted. White House Chief of Staff’s Denis McDonough’s call at the Soros-backed J Street Conference to end 50 years of occupation is straight out of the propaganda mills of the PA, Hamas, Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah. Shame on American Jews like Peter Beinert and members of the J Street Rabbinic cabinet for urging American Jewish youths to become martyrs in a summer campaign in Judea and Samaria.

Listen to this Voice of Israel Josh Hasten commentary with voice clips from McDonough’s speech at the J Street Conference and Sen. Lindsey Graham’s rebuttal.

Noted theologian, post-holocaust scholar and author of Jihad and Genocide, Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein’s prescient 2010 NER interview with this writer says it all: “Obama is the most radical U.S. President ever”

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EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

Overdue Recognition: Investigating Shariah Courts in the UK

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British MPs and Peers may now have abandoned Parliament to campaign in our impending elections, but in doing so, they left one rather gaping hole in terms of public policy on counter-extremism.

The Parliamentary session was supposed to have broken with a new counter-extremism strategy having been published. It was to be put in place in order to ensure that the new government and Parliament will have a template on how to deal with one of the key issues of our time.

However, there have been a series of frustrating delays, and the full strategy is yet to be launched. This week, a key part was finally revealed. A cursory examination of this shows it encompasses many of those things which a counter-terrorism strategy really has to cover. But it crucially also included the proposal of something potentially more contentious: launching an investigation into the activities of sharia courts in the UK.

Hitherto the UK government has focused primarily on the violence problem. Yet now, a significant shift has occurred so that officials must also consider the extent to that there is also a non-violent problem. Women in the UK in the 21st century being subjected to sharia law is now to be appraised as part of the problem. People being taught to live segregated lives is now a criteria to consider as part of the problem. It has taken a long time to acknowledge this.

For years the presumption has been that stopping bombs is the role of counter extremism but that stopping the emergence of a divided and parallel society within our society is not. But violent extremists do not come from nowhere. They come from a place which encourages their us-and-them mindset, a mindset which portions of society have not only tolerated but even encouraged.

There are many fights left to win and many problems which remain to be addressed. Fortunately we now have one fewer to contend with.

Will America Choose Victory Or Defeat?

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Will America blow yet another chance to strengthen her hand against her adversaries, or maintain a self-imposed implosion of her economic and military prowess?  Detroit’s General Motors recently announced plans to slash production in Russia and yank its mass market Opel brand completely in the face of shrinking sales through the economically troubled land of the ruble.  As Russia’s auto market continues to shrivel up, mainstream GM brands like Chevrolet are losing Russian auto-market sales to the tune of 74 percent.  The Opel brand has suffered an even greater loss of 86 percent.

By years end, Opel vehicles will no longer be sold in Russia, with Chevrolet officials cutting production significantly. They will focus high end models such as the Corvette and the Tahoe SUV, both of which are imported into Russia from the United States. CNS news reports that GM President Dan Anmann noted that “this change in our business model in Russia is part of our global strategy to insure long term sustainability in markets where we operate… This decision avoids significant investment into a market that has very challenging long term prospects.”

General Motors Saint Petersburg factory will no longer be operational by June or July 2015. There are no plans to restart production in the foreseeable future or beyond. According to GM spokesman Dave Roman. Production of Chevrolet under license by Russian firm GAZ will also end this year, while General Motors  joint venture with Russia’s Avtovaz producing the Chevrolet Niva basic SUV will continue. The GM pull out of Russia is supposed to preserve the auto makers strong cash position by avoiding another drain on its capitol.­

According to CNS news at the end of last year GM was sitting on 25.2 billion in cash, but earlier the company agreed to a 5 billion stock buyback. The U.S. Justice Department may soon be extracting a sizable civil penalty out of GM for concealing a deadly ignition switch problem. Amongst other predicaments, Russia’s central bank recently predicted that Russia’s economy will contract between 3.5 and 4 % this year. The weak and droopy ruble has resulted in a 38% downward spiral in overall auto sales from two years ago. In addition the ruble has lost almost half its value against the U.S. dollar since the start of 2014 according to CNS news.

Despite Russia’s economic traumas she continues to be ruled by officials who are dramatically increasing her military might. Conversely the United States with a corrupt regime has set out to endanger our republics physical well being, by reducing our military might dramatically. Russia is also being punished for not being politically correct. Because she remains patriotic or nationalist oriented as opposed to a more globalist focus.

So the question remains will America blow yet another chance to strengthen her hand against her adversaries, or maintain a self-imposed implosion of her economic and military prowess?

Right now, our republic turned mob ruled democracy is awash in her own specified twenty trillion deficit. The so called economic recovery is at best a pause in the overall decline of our economy and standard of living. Special interest groups an many in the progressive media can sometimes find a racist cop behind every telephone pole than to seek genuine economic policies or opportunities to help Americans work their way towards a better life. Hopefully the Republican leadership will follow through on its promise to repeal Obamacare which is designed to destroy both high quality healthcare and the economy.

The world is witnessing Iran seeking to assume nuclear power status. Russia and China are rapidly expanding militarily. So I pray that congress will stand up against the Obama regime effort to thwart our nation’s ability to defeat our enemies through military reductions. Our restrictive tax rates and burdensome regulations must be substantially reduced along with wasteful deficit spending. If not, America will blow yet another chance to strengthen her hand against her adversaries, both foreign and domestic.

That my fellow Americans will be most troublesome, not only for the United States, but for the world at large.

U.S. Special Forces evacuate Yemen

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“This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. And it is consistent with the approach I outlined earlier this year: to use force against anyone who threatens America’s core interests, but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order.” — Barack Obama, September 10, 2014

“U.S., British forces out in Yemen, raising terror fears,” CNN, March 23, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

The United States and Great Britain have pulled their last forces out of strife-torn Yemen, raising fears that the failed state will become even more of a breeding ground for terror groups plaguing the Middle East and the West.

Over the weekend, the United States evacuated the last of its special operations forces — including Navy SEALs and Army Delta Force troops — amid the deteriorating security situation in the country, the U.S. State Department said.

On Monday, a security source in the region familiar with the situation in Yemen told CNN’s Nic Robertson that British special forces had also left Yemen in the last few days. The British Ministry of Defence declined to comment.
Armed men inspect damage after an explosion at Al Badr mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday, March 20. Deadly explosions in Yemen’s capital rocked two mosques serving a minority Muslim group that recently conquered the city. The mosques serve members of the Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam, which is followed by the Houthi rebels who recently took control of the capital.
Yemen mosque attacks 8 photos

The U.S. move came a day after terrorists bombed two mosques in the capital, Sanaa, on Friday, killing at least 137 and wounding 357 others, according to Yemen’s state-run Saba news agency. The terror group ISIS, based in Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack.
U.N. warns Yemen is at ‘edge of civil war’

U.N. warns Yemen is at ‘edge of civil war’ 01:47

It also followed months of fighting between government forces and Houthi rebels, who on Sunday seized the international airport in Taiz. The rebels now control both the airport and Sanaa.

Yemen has been a key U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, allowing U.S. drones and special operations forces to stalk terrorists in the country. Now, that arrangement is in tatters, along with any semblance of peace in the Middle Eastern nation.

While State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said Saturday that the United States would continue to “take action to disrupt continuing, imminent threats to the United States and our citizens,” the move left some wondering what role the U.S. could play with no forces on the ground. The country closed its embassy in Sanaa last month.

“I don’t think there is an active role for the U.S. other than intelligence and trying to see where the dust is going to settle,” said U.S. Sen. Angus King, a Maine Independent who serves on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees.

That raises the possibility of the already unstable country becoming an even more fertile environment for terror groups to collaborate, grow and export violence, according to Robin Wright, a security and defense analyst with the Woodrow Wilson Center.

“It’s becoming much like Syria, much like Afghanistan was at the peak of its instability,” she said.
U.S. pulls military forces from Yemen

On Sunday, U.N. officials said the country appeared to be on a “rapid downward spiral.” The Security Council again deplored the violence and called for an end to the fighting and for Houthi rebels to return government facilities to the elected government of President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

But officials said recent events “seemed to be leading the country further away from a peaceful settlement and towards the edge of civil war.”

In addition to counterterrorism issues, all sorts of geopolitical influences are at work in Yemen — chief among them the regional power play between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi rebels are Shiites with ties to Iran, who have long felt marginalized in majority Sunni Yemen. Sunni Arab countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council want to limit the influence of Iran, particularly Saudi Arabia, said CNN military analyst Lt. Col. Rick Francona.

“They believe now that Iran is in control in Beirut, in Damascus, in Baghdad and now on their southern border in Yemen,” Francona said. “So the Saudis are beginning to feel a little threatened here and are hoping the Yemen situation doesn’t spiral out of control.”

The Saudis and other Gulf Arab nations have called for every effort to be made to roll back the Houthi gains and hand full control back to Hadi’s government.

On Monday, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi criticized regional governments over their stance on the fighting.

Al-Houthi said his group was striking back at al Qaeda and ISIS in self defense, and said he found it “very strange” that nearby governments would condemn the group for such acts while welcoming the United States, which he called “the umbrella of tyranny in the world.”
Yemen on the brink

There’s little reason to believe the Security Council’s calls for peace will have much impact. Last month the council slammed the rebels for taking over democratic institutions and holding officials under house arrest, with little effect on the fighting.

Last week, a Yemeni jet commanded by the Houthi fired missiles at a palace housing Hadi in the port city of Aden.

No one was injured, but the direct strike marked an escalation in the deadly fighting between the two sides. That same day, Yemeni military forces — some under the Houthis, others led by officers loyal to Hadi — battled in Aden, leaving at least 13 people dead in the clashes, Aden Gov. Abdul Aziz Hobtour said.

The fighting is taking a huge toll on Yemen’s people and economy, said Rafat al Akhali, the country’s former youth minister. Aside from the direct impact of fighting, people are losing jobs and businesses are closing, he said.

There’s still time, he said, to implement a political solution to the crisis.

“I don’t think we’re past the point of no return yet,” he said.

Francona was less sanguine.

“I don’t see anything stopping a major war going on,” he said.

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White House desperate: Falsely accuses Israel of spying

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The White House has gotten desperate and now falsely accuses Israel of spying

There is a headline the Wall Street Journal today “Israel Spied on Iran Nuclear Talks With U.S.” U.S. News and World Report in an article “Boehner ‘Baffled’ by Reports Israel Spied on Iran Talks: Israeli defense minister says the United States has not complained to them” states, “House Speaker John Boehner says he’s “baffled” by reports that Israel spied on negotiators in the sensitive talks over Iran’s nuclear program. Boehner told reporters Tuesday that he was not aware of any spying. Israel’s defense minister Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief and head of military intelligence, says the U.S. has never complained to Israel about the spying alleged in the published report.”

The Obama administration is responsible for this mis-characterization in order to attack Israel and give Democrat Senators a reason not to vote on the Corker-Mendez bill in April. The Corker-Menendez bill gives Congress the right to vote on the Iranian nuclear arms agreement rather than the UN.

The Iranian talks have been going on for over a year among the P5+1 nations. Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and others that will be most affected by the agreement have been excluded. However each of the nations involved including the U.S. have been leaking information throughout the process.

Israel, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States have had access to the discussions through various participants among the P5+1 nations all along. Undoubtedly not all the participants considered the discussions to be secret.The White House is aware of this and it knows where so many people are involved the discussions could not be kept secret in any event, nor should they be. The White House has admitted this.

What Obama is upset about is that Israel and undoubtedly others from the Gulf States have shared some of this information with Congress and the Senate. If it were not for the fact we have an Orwellian White House that has chosen to keep Congress in the dark, Obama would have been sharing details of the negotiations with Congress and Senators all along.

The fact that Congress is no longer in the dark and the deal is so bad is a major problem for Obama. Picking a fight with Israel and falsely accusing it of spying is untrue but emboldens Iran and may help to keep Democrat Senators in line so they don’t exercise their right to approve or disapprove the deal.

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California Muslim accused of trying to join the Islamic State: “Je suie Al-Qaeda”

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He meant “je suis al-Qaeda,” of course, but you can surely pardon him for falling behind a bit on his French while studying jihad mass murder and vers libre. Note that he doesn’t seem to be aware of the great schism between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, which the mainstream analysts assure us is going to collapse the jihad movement from within any day now.

“California Man Facing Terrorism Charge Writes to Newspaper,”Associated Press, March 22, 2015:

A 21-year-old Southern California man accused of trying to join the Islamic State group vowed revenge and identified with the Charlie Hebdo massacre in France in a series of writings to a newspaper.

Adam Dandach, who pleaded not guilty last week to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group and other charges, sent four letters and two poems from jail to the Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/1Ony7es).

A poem titled “The Price of Freedom of Speech” ends, “Rot in a grave of fire, right where you belong. / Je suie Al-Qaeda, leaving another scar.” The faulty French is a play on the slogan, “I Am Charlie,” adopted by supporters of the French newspaper that was attacked in January, resulting in 12 deaths.

Dandach wrote the poem — told from the perspective of two brothers in the attack — three days after the killings. He said he felt no sympathy for the dead and wouldn’t condemn the assailants, though he added that his comments didn’t mean he would carry out the attack himself and that the poem didn’t necessarily reflect his personal opinion.

A poem that runs more than two typed pages reads, “Oh, you hateful fiends! / Know that revenge will come / You’re standing in front of the One (God) / A punishment in a fiery sea / Of carnage and blazing agony”

He continues, “I live my life alone; nobody sees my tears. / I’m a stranger here; my pleas fall on deaf ears.”

Dandach first wrote the Register in October after a reporter contacted him and his mother. In January, he sent an untitled poem that he described as an “explanation of my unfortunate situation, a message to my oppressors, a prayer and a call to the Muslim nation.”

The graduate of El Modena High School in Orange wrote that he hoped to reach out to “those who still carry a conscience in a society where having a conscience is seen as weak and naive.”

Dandach’s attorney Pal Lengyel-Leahu declined to discuss the content of the poems and questioned their authenticity. He said publishing them is akin to trying Dandach in the newspaper.

“He’s just a kid. He’s in way over his head,” Lengyel-Leahu said. “He’s actually a decent person.”

I’m sure he’s a decent fellow.

The community college student was detained in July as he prepared to board a plane bound for Turkey. Authorities say he wanted to slip into Syria to join the Islamic State. A trial is scheduled for June….

RELATED ARTICLES:

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French PM: “In France, all the energy, all the necessary resources already exist for the development of Islam”

Thomas More Law Center Helps Widow of Chris Kyle, American Sniper, Hit with $1.8 Million Jury Verdict

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A friend of the court brief supporting Taya Kyle, the widow of Chris Kyle, the American Sniper, was filed yesterday afternoon in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  In the highly controversial case, a Minnesota jury awarded former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura $1.8 million in damages in July 2014.  The verdict included $500,000 in damages for defamation and over $1.3 million dollars in “unjust enrichment” from the proceeds of Chris Kyle’s book, American Sniper.

Richard Thompson, TMLC’s President and Chief Counsel, commented on filing the brief supporting Chris Kyle’s widow:

“This is TMLC’s way of saying thank you to Taya. The Law Center, and especially our senior trial counsel Erin Mersino and her husband, Paul, worked together on the brief, not only to honor Chris Kyle’s heroic sacrifices in service to our nation, but also to honor Taya for the many hardships she had to endure while her husband was deployed defending our Nation. Too often we forget to thank the families of our deployed troops for the hardships and emotional strain they silently endure while their loved ones are deployed in harm’s way.”

The unusual case spawns from a brief passage in the book American Sniper, authored by Chris Kyle where he discusses a confrontation with Jesse Ventura in a California bar where the two men were attending a fellow Navy SEAL’s wake.  The book describes how a man (Ventura) was being loud and disrespectful at the wake, and made anti-American comments insulting the Navy SEALs, stating “You deserve to lose a few.”  Although Ventura is never mentioned by name in the book, Ventura sued Chris Kyle for defamation.  Chris Kyle was tragically murdered before the case was tried, but instead of dropping the lawsuit, Ventura went after Chris Kyle’s widow, Taya.  The Court replaced Taya Kyle as the Defendant in the case as the representative of Chris Kyle’s estate.

Although Chris Kyle could not testify in person on his own behalf due to his tragic death, when Ventura’s lawsuit went to a jury trial last year, his lawyers presented several witnesses who supported the truth of Chris Kyle’s words. The case is now on appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit.

The Thomas More Law Center filed a motion to be allowed to file the friend of the court brief with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on March 11, 2015.  Taya Kyle’s attorneys consented to the filing, while attorneys for Ventura refused to consent. Yesterday afternoon (March 17th), the Eight Circuit Court granted the motion.

While TMLC believes that the entire decision of the lower court should be reversed, its brief specifically focuses on why the $1.3 million dollar award for “unjust enrichment” must be reversed.  The brief describes why the lower court erred by allowing unjust enrichment damages in a defamation lawsuit, and that there have been no other cases in the history of our nation that have allowed such damages for a defamation claim.  Further, the brief states that “the damages award for unjust enrichment amount to an impermissible windfall for Ventura that, if permitted to stand, could create precedent that creates a chilling effect on free speech by expanding defamation damages.”

Chris Kyle is a true American hero. TMLC is proud to support Taya Kyle and to honor the memory of Chris Kyle. He is considered the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history with 160 confirmed kills.  He bravely served four tours in the Middle East, protecting our country as a Navy SEAL.  Chris Kyle left behind his wife, Taya, and their two children. Chris Kyle’s book American Sniper was adapted into the popular film released this past December and directed by Clint Eastwood. The film, which has obtained box office success, makes no mention of the confrontation with Ventura.

TMLC’s brief was written by the husband and wife team of Erin Mersino, Senior Trial Counsel at the Thomas More Law Center, and Paul Mersino, an attorney and Shareholder at the law firm of Butzel Long, P.C. in Detroit, Michigan, who worked pro bono on the brief.

Click here to read a full copy of the brief

The Oppression of Expression

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The connection between language and liberty is profound by SARAH SKWIRE.

I have been thinking and writing a great deal about ISIS and its attempts to destroy art, language, culture, and history. This means I have also been thinking a lot about Mark Dunn’s novel Ella Minnow Pea, which is a funny and troubling exploration of language and oppression.

Dunn subtitles his novel “A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable,” and the novel is replete with the word games that its punning title and sesquipedalian subtitle suggest. Ella Minnow Pea is set on the fictional island of Nollop, named after the equally fictional Nevin Nollop, who invented the pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” (A pangram is a sentence that uses every letter in the alphabet.) As Dunn explains in the novel’s epigraph, the island has an “almost monastic devotion to liberal arts education and scholarship.” A symbol of that devotion is the large statue of Nevin Nollop that is placed at the center of the main town of Nollopton and decked with tiles that spell out his famous sentence.

As the novel opens, the tile bearing the letter z has fallen off the statue and been taken to the town council. The heroine of the novel — Ella Minnow Pea — explains what happens next.

On Wednesday, July 19, the Council, having gleaned and discerned, released its official verdict: the fall of the tile bearing the letter Z constitutes the terrestrial manifestation of an empyrean Nollopian desire, that desire most surely being that the letter Z should be utterly excised — fully extirpated — absolutely heave-ho-ed from our communal vocabulary! Henceforth, use of the arguably superfluous twenty-sixth letter will be outlawed from all island speech and graphy… Under penalties to be determined by the aforementioned Council. On Friday, July 21, those penalties were decided. They are as follows: To speak or write any word containing the letter Z, or to be found in possession of any written communication containing this letter, one will receive for a first offense a public oral reprimand… Second offenders will be offered choice between the corporal pain of body-flogging and the public humiliation of headstock upon the public square. For third offense, violators will be banished from the island. Refusal to leave upon order of Council will result in death.

There’s a lot of food for thought here. We have the exceptionally rich, almost overwrought, baroque language of the islanders at the story’s outset. Ella and her fellow islanders clearly glory in the beauties of language and in its ability to communicate. We also discover that this charming little island has some sinister characteristics.

First, Nollop is treated by at least some portion of the Nollopians as a god or prophet. Second, there is an apparently endlessly powerful “High Council” that has the ability to make laws and assign punishment without consulting the populace. Lastly, we discover that language — in its very building blocks, not merely political, religious, or obscene language — is open to regulation of the strictest kind.

As Ella’s cousin Tassie writes, “I am so fearful, Ella, as to where this all may lead. A silly little letter, to be sure, but I believe its theft represents something quite large and oh so frighteningly ominous. For it stands to rob us of the freedom to communicate without any manner of a fetter or harness.” Tassie’s fears are not based only in her concerns about the trammeling of her freedom of expression, however. She notes that the High Council is “installed for life, with complex legal procedures for official recall, copies of which will soon be disappearing from the shelves of our island libraries.”

The council’s decree has not merely committed the absurdity of outlawing the usage of the letter z. It has effectively restricted the Nollopians’ ability to function politically. Without copies of their laws in the libraries — and these laws will have to be removed from the libraries and any written record because they doubtless contain at least one instance of the letter z somewhere — the Nollopians have no recourse other than sufferance or revolution.

As with Newspeak in Orwell’s 1984, even this earliest and simplest of High Council decrees begins the process of eliminating words and people. The day the ban on z goes into effect, Ella writes to her cousin, “The books have all disappeared. You were right about the books. We will have to write new ones now. But what will we say? Without the whiz that waz. For we cannot even write of its history. Because to write of it is to write it. And as of midnight, it becomes ineffable.” Eliminating the letter z eliminates not only the letter, but all printed material and spoken expression in which the letter occurs. It eliminates, as Ella records, the ability to remember it or write its history. It has been “vaporized” in classic Orwellian style.

Unsurprisingly, the new regulation spurs further regulation — including a ban on writing words where the letter z has been replaced with an asterisk. Violation of this ban is subject to the same draconian penalties as violation of the proscription of z. Shortly thereafter, we see citizens flogged, the publication of the names of 58 first-time offenders, and the locking into the headstocks of 13 second-time offenders.

Then, the letter q falls from the statue. Ella is, as ever, an optimist, noting that “as luck would have it, there are simply not all that many words in the English language which claim this letter among its constituents.” She continues to discuss the possibility of either a legal recall or a military coup of the High Council, but recognizes the difficulty of a legal recall when the laws remain in effect, but the written records of them have all been burned, and the difficulty of a military overthrow when the government pays the military well. She also records, in rapid succession, the loss of the island radio station, newspaper, and all recordings of any music with lyrics.

And this is with only the two least-used letters outlawed!

Tassie soon reports to Ella that the new regulations have encouraged neighbors to spy on neighbors and report their violations to the High Council. Her mother, a school teacher, is reported for referring to “a dozen eggs.”

Loss of the letter q also produces some heroic behavior. The Rasmussen family marches into the High Council session wearing duck masks and quacking. They are then manacled and offered the choice between flogging and headstocks. The family — including the nine-year-old twin daughters — chooses flogging in hopes of horrifying the islanders to some sort of response. The townspeople do nothing. That evening, however, one islander is caught trying to replace the j tile that has fallen off the statue. Ella tells us, “He was apprehended and is being held without bond.”

When the letter d falls, the High Council revamps the calendar, naming the days of the week: Sunshine; Monty; Toes; Wetty; Thurby; Fribs; Satto-Gatto. Loss of the letter d also proves the cause of Tassie’s mother’s second slip, which she duly reports to the High Council, only to receive this reply:

We appreciate your coming to us with a copy of your letter to your sister, but it was unnecessary. Your offense was known to us even before the letter’s receipt by your sister. Effective as of September 15, the primary responsibility of our isle’s new assistant chief postal inspector has been to scan all post for use of illegal letters of the alphabet, then to make nightly reports to the Council.

But Dunn’s book ceases to be a dark comedy and becomes a pure tragedy as the book progresses and we are privy to the degradation of language produced by the council’s restrictions. Ella’s penultimate letter is written to herself because her friends and family have nearly all been exiled, have killed themselves, or have chosen to stop writing and speaking.

Letter to me:

Onlee 24 owers remain.

Storm.

Tiles plop. 8 tiles plomp plomp plomp all in one nite.

Tee ent is near.

So lon A!

So lon E! (Nise to no ewe.)

So lon I!

So lon R! (Are we lonesome tonite?)

So lon S!

So lon T!

So lon W!

So lon O twin. (Remnant twin is all alone now.)

Now onlee 5 remain at 12 o’time. Onlee 5. Onlee 5 remain.

There are several notable things about this letter. First, there’s Dunn’s impressive accomplishment of managing communication, humor, and even pathos with only 12 letters. Second, there is Ella’s undying need to communicate, to connect, to record, to use language even at the instant it is being taken from her. Last, there is the inevitable comparison between the paucity of this language as contrasted with the baroque expressions of Ella’s first letter in the novel. Ella’s final letter is composed of only the letters LMNOP. It is a less successful piece of communication, but the pathos and humor continue.

Ella’s story ends with the triumph of creative forces over government repression, tyranny, theocracy, and general insanity. Along the way, though, it is a vivid reminder of the strong ties between language and liberty, and a strong caution that the oppression of expression can ally itself to tyranny, ruin our ability to think, and render us unable to fight.

ABOUT SARAH SKWIRE

 Sarah Skwire is a senior fellow at Liberty Fund, Inc. She is a poet and author of the writing textbook Writing with a Thesis.

Hard to grasp the Middle East situation?

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A UK friend emailed me about the mess in the Middle East, saying that the tribal differences make it hard to grasp the situation there. Yes, from the standpoint of the inhabitants of the region, the situation is labyrinthine. But from the U.S. standpoint there is nothing complex about it at all. It is a secret hidden in the open, IF you know about the petrodollar agreement signed in 1973. You can truly call it blood money. Of course, in one way, the motivation of the U.S. policy is still hard to grasp, namely, how it could be so utterly and irredeemably EVIL?

Here is my response:

Dear X,

The key to ALL our Middle East wars in recent decades is the petrodollar agreement with the Saudis. It is not at all hard to grasp.

From the U.S. standpoint, the wars (and support for revolutions) are disarmingly easy to understand. Here is a digest explaining exactly why the U.S. has been fighting in the Middle East: http://www.americandailyherald.com/pundits/donald-hank/item/how-the-petrodollar-perpetuates-Islamic-terror

It all boils down to the petrodollar agreement signed between Nixon and King Faisal in 1973. Under this agreement, the Saudis agreed to demand payment for oil in dollars in exchange for “protection” of the Saudi royals and their oil fields. But in reality, the Saudis were not only interested in protection. Their aim was to have the US wage proxy wars against their religious opponents, mostly Shiites but also secularists.

In reality, every single war in the Middle East was fought by the U.S. as a proxy for the Saudis, essentially in defense of Saudi Wahhabism (radical fundamentalist SUNNI sect) against two groups:

  1. Secularists like Qaddafi and Saddam.
  2. Shiites like Iran and Syria (Shiites are in fact the less violent and radical of the two groups. You see why the ME has exploded, with the U.S. supporting the radical SUNNI Wahhabi sect and their minions — al-Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS? — Incidentally, Afghanistan and the Taliban are a somewhat complicated case. The Saudis turned against them because they were refusing to bow to the Saudis and were making bad publicity for Saudi Arabia)

That is just about all you need to know about U.S. motivation. In a word, money.

Young men from a “Christian” country dying for radical Muslims and their religion, and Christian churches standing with our contemptible government in support of these proxy wars. Easy to grasp the mechanics. Almost impossible to grasp the evil behind it.

Best,

Don

P.S.: Consider how IRAN is one of the countries having religious differences with the Saudis and how Christians have supported confrontation with that country without understanding what is behind it and without making a rational comparison of Iran with other Muslim countries (which would show Iran, with its 600 churches, to be significantly more Christian-friendly than Saudi Arabia, which bans all churches). Jesus commanded us to be gentle as doves and wise as serpents. You can’t have wisdom without any knowledge. Most American Christians are guilty of the sin of willful ignorance, something God hates as much as any other sin. He says My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge – Hosea 4:6.

Judging by the way Europe and even our allies in Asia have been turning away from the US-dominated World Bank and becoming founding members of the Chinese AIIB, we are truly being destroyed by our obstinate refusal to know the truth. Instead we prefer hokus-pokus, signs like blood moons and other nonsense. Please read the following article on the AIIB vs World Bank and leave a comment.

Seeing the Light on School Choice

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The arguments against school choice in America are growing more desperate and outrageous as the special interest groups allied against the educational opportunities of America’s school children begin to lose their fight. In a remarkable development, a number of prominent Democrats are siding with Republicans on school choice and in the fight for the educational futures of millions of American children.

These special interest groups are experts at making us believe they’re in it for the kids but this message is far different from the one that takes place behind closed doors.

Think about it; where else do rational people argue against choice? We want to choose our doctors. We want to choose our childcare providers. We want to choose our home contractors. We want to choose the supermarket where we shop. We want to choose the restaurants where we eat. We want to choose which colleges we attend. We want to choose our lawyers, our accountants, our landscapers, our mechanics, our barbers, our butchers, and just about every other provider whose services or products we may want or need.

If choice is the obvious answer for nearly every other arena, then why is there such a controversy when it comes to educational options? The controversy stems from the fact that a number of special interest organizations make a living, and will continue to exist, only if the failed system in place continues to be forced down our throats. These special interest groups are experts at making us believe they’re in it for the kids but this message is far different from the one that takes place behind closed doors. If you have any doubts read the following quote from National Education Association lawyer, Bob Chanin, speaking in 2009 at the National Education Association’s (NEA) annual meeting:

Despite what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power.

The NEA, and their sister organizations, are showing their unwillingness to get results, and to fight for a better educational future by their intransigence and their unwillingness to allow parents a choice, and a voice, in the process.

This quote is appalling. Speaking with educators in my family and those I came into contact with on my political campaigns, I bet most teachers would agree. The tragic irony of this quote is that the power Mr. Chanin speaks of is leveraged at the expense of both America’s school children AND its teachers. The NEA and its sister organizations, which have carelessly pursued a merciless, one-sided negotiation strategy, have ignored the alternatives for their members and are costing them both money and career flexibility.

South Korea, a country with a world-class education system, compensates its teachers at approximately two and a half times GDP per capita, while in the United States the ratio is roughly one to one. In addition, South Korean parents spend more on education for their children than parents in any other country (15% of Gross National Product) to attain academic excellence. To be clear, I am not making a case for or against more or less government or private spending on education in this specific piece. But, I am arguing that the education special interests are doing a disservice to their members and to the country by fighting for the failed status quo, and against school choice, under the misguided belief that the educators they represent will suffer financially. South Koreans are willing to spend such large sums on education and, in the process, improve the financial well being of their teachers, because they are getting results. The NEA, and their sister organizations, are showing their unwillingness to get results, and to fight for a better educational future by their intransigence and their unwillingness to allow parents a choice, and a voice, in the process.

Freedom, liberty and choice work because bureaucrats will never possess the information necessary about you and your children to make better decisions than you can make for yourselves. The value of a top tier education will only grow in a globalized future, where productivity enhancements will increasingly come from the arena of ideas, and less from the arena of physical labor.

This is a fight we can all get behind, regardless of our partisan leanings. Invest your time in the fight for school choice and educational freedom and tomorrow will pay us all back a handsome dividend.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the Conservative Review.

Iran’s Supremo: Introduce youth of U.S., Europe to “Islam of jihad”

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The way things are going, given the denial and self-deception of our leaders and the mainstream media, and the complacency and ignorance they’ve fostered among the people, the youth of America and Europe will be introduced to the Islam of jihad soon enough. “Iran’s Ayatollah: Introduce Youth of America, Europe to ‘the Islam of Jihad,’” by Terence P. Jeffrey, CNS News, March 20, 2015 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

(CNSNews.com) – In a speech translated into English and posted on his official website, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told Iran’s “Assembly of Experts” last week that “our goal and main guideline should be to pursue Islam in its entirety.”

“What we understand from all Quranic teachings is that Islam commands Muslims to create a perfect and complete Islamic government,” said the Supreme Leader. “Islam wants the complete implementation of Islam.”

The ayatollah also said Iran should use what he called “Islamophobia” and the “targeting of Islam” to reach out to youth throughout the world and “provide them with real Islam.”

“We should make efforts. In the Islamic Republic, the great and important feat is that all of us–anyone at any level and with any capability in this regard–should make efforts to introduce original Islam, one that supports the oppressed and that opposes the oppressor,” said the ayatollah. “The youth who live in Europe, America and distant countries become excited about this kind of Islam.”

Two paragraphs later, in explaining the “kind of Islam” he was talking about introducing to people, the ayatollah said: “We should introduce the Islam of mercy to the weak and the Islam of jihad and fighting against arrogant powers.”

Khamenei delivered this speech on March 12. It is currently the top item posted on the homepage of his English-language website. (It can be read in its entirety here.)

The ayatollah told the assembly that the promotion of Islamaphobia by Iran’s enemies had provided an opportunity to spread Iran’s vision to the West.

“Now, under such circumstances, our goal and main guideline should be to pursue Islam in its entirety,” said the ayatollah. “We should really do our best–Allah the Exalted does not expect us to act beyond our power and capability–to pursue this. Our effort and goal should be to establish Islam–in its entirety and with all its parts and constituents–in society. When this becomes our goal, they immediately bring up a certain issue, namely Islamophobia which is common in today’s world. In my opinion, we should not at all adopt a passive outlook towards the phenomenon of Islamophobia. Islamophobia exists.

“Some individuals are frightening peoples, societies, youth and minds of Islam,” said the ayatollah. “Who are these individuals? When we delve deeply into this matter and when we think carefully about it, we see that they are the same minority of bullies and greedy individuals who are afraid of the rule of Islam. They are afraid of political Islam. They are afraid of Islam’s presence in the heart of societies. The reason for their fear is that Islam harms their interests. As a matter of fact, Islamophobia is a translation of powers’ fear and anxiety in the face of Islam. This is the truth of the matter.”

The ayatollah argued for giving the “masses” of the world a “little nudge” in the direction of the Iranian vision.

“Of course, despite what are they doing, their movement against Islam and their effort to create Islamophobia will produce the opposite result,” he said. “That is to say, their actions will make youth curious about Islam. If the masses of the people in the world are given a little nudge and if we attract their attention, they will begin to understand why the Zionist press and television networks–those which are dependent on powerful and well-to-do cliques–launch so many attacks on Islam. This will pose a question in their minds and we believe that this question has certain blessings and that it can turn this threat into an opportunity.

“We should make efforts. In the Islamic Republic, the great and important feat is that all of us–anyone at any level and with any capability in this regard–should make efforts to introduce original Islam, one that supports the oppressed and that opposes the oppressor,” said the ayatollah.

“The youth who live in Europe, America and distant countries become excited about this kind of Islam,” he said. “They become excited and it becomes clear to them that Islam means a force, motive and thought which moves against oppressors and transgressors and in favor of the oppressed. It becomes clear to them that Islam has plans to pursue this and that it considers it its responsibility to do so.”

A moment later, the ayatollah contrasted the kind of Islam he was talking about to what he called “secular Islam” and “secular Christianity.”

“We should introduce the kind of Islam that is present in people’s lives as opposed to secular Islam,” said the ayatollah. “Secular Islam is similar to secular Christianity which imprisons itself in a corner of church and which has no presence in real life. Secular Islam acts in the same way,” he said. “Today, there are some people who invite people to isolated Islam, one that has nothing do with people’s lives. This kind of Islam calls on people to perform some religious acts in a corner of mosques or houses. We should introduce the kind of Islam that is present in people’s lives. We should introduce the Islam of mercy to the weak and the Islam of jihad and fighting against arrogant powers.

“In my opinion, this is a responsibility that falls on everyone’s shoulders,” said the ayatollah. “Our promotional and scholarly organizations and our Islamic seminaries should pursue this goal.”

The Iranian supreme leader described those “targeting Islam” as “Zionists.”…

Of course. Who else?

RELATED ARTICLES:

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Tunis museum jihadis wore belts packed with explosives to maximize deaths

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A Canadian Woman On The Frontlines With ISIS

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INCREASING NUMBERS OF FEMALES

Last week the Toronto Sun reported on two women from Montreal who apparently left to join Daesh (ISIS) in November. While these are not the first Canadians who have travelled for this purpose, this definitely points to an emerging trend in that the individuals were female. What draws women to join one of the most notorious terrorist organizations on the face of the planet? Perhaps we think that women (in some cases teenage women) are less susceptible to recruitment or radicalization. Realistically, though, that simply isn’t the case and Canadian women are, more and more, coming up on the radar as engaging with and travelling to support ISIS.

For More on Female Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq

For More on TRAC Focus On France: Female Foreign Fighters (Jihadist)

Tracking a Canadian Woman's Involvement with ISIS

Case in point, iBRABO began monitoring a female, whom we’ll call L.A., shortly after publishing our story on the New Zealand jihadist, Mark Taylor. Based on his tweets about his experiences in the “Islamic State,” we were able to track him through Syria through his twitter geo-location. One of the benefits of tracking terrorists through geocoded tweets is they are like a virtual trail of breadcrumbs. While surveilling ISIS strongholds in Syria and Iraq, our analysts observed another social media account of a Western ISIS supporter that concerned us.   In this case, the twitter trail that we were able to follow led us directly back to a female account in Toronto. L.A. had been actively moving about throughout Toronto and broadcasting her location up until the 23rd of November 2014. At that point she disappears and isn’t seen again until her Android phone starts broadcasting on the 8th of December from Ar Raqqah, Syria (below). Ar Raqqah is one of the major stronghold cities for ISIS and for that reason is intensely monitored by several organizations.

THE PATH TO ENGAGEMENT WITH VIOLENT EXTREMISM

So how is it that a Canadian woman ends up in the heart of what ISIS calls the “Islamic State”? Some of the answers for this lie in her Twitter page (vetted below).

Twitter Profile of Female Canadian ISIS Supporter

L.A.’s Twitter background image is a picture of an ISIS beheading from  al-Furqan Media Foundation from the Video Althought the Unbelievers Dislike It. To see the full video refer to the conclusion. The image was identified through the Al-Furqan media icon in the upper left corner of the image (below).

For More on Detailed Analysis of Islamic State (ISIS) Video: Although the Unbelievers Dislike It – A Story of Expansion and Beheadings

Al-Furqan Media Foundaion - iBRABO

Image: Al-Furqan Media Foundation logo.

RETWEETING PROPAGANDA AS PREDECESSOR TO RECRUITMENT

While viewing propaganda imagery in and of itself doesn’t mean a person has radicalized (we have watched more than our fair share), we have found that individuals who then go on to rebroadcast or adopt those images as their own in social media are posting a potential red flag. Another predictor relates to peer influence, and in that regard social media has changed the traditional need for direct peer interaction. Looking at the peer network L.A. has built on her twitter account, there are several dozen ISIS fighters and supporters she follows and engages with. This past week several of those members were suspended in a mass cull by Twitter, who was looking to eliminate some of the thousands of ISIS accounts on its platform.

L.A. makes numerous references to her support for ISIS in her twitter feed stating, “God bless those who live on His path and who die on His path”. As well as defending ISIS against arguments by others that they are Khawarij (a derogatory name many in the Arabic world now use for the group)

THE FIRST DOCUMENTED CASE OF A FEMALE ON THE FRONTLINES WITH ISIS

GEO-LOCATING L.A.’S ACTIVITIES SINCE ARRIVAL

Perhaps the most damning evidence of her involvement with ISIS are her activities once she arrives in Syria. Unlike the typical “domestic” role that is described in Institute for Strategic Dialog’s recent article “Becoming Mulan”, L.A. appears to take a very active role with ISIS. Examining her Twitter geo-location track L.A. has travelled on numerous occasions to virtually every major city that ISIS controls. To put this in perspective, L.A. has travelled across more ISIS controlled territory than any other ISIS account we have monitored. Some of these travels include Ar Raqqah, Dier ez Zur, Mosul, Aleppo and the embattled town of Kobane (lead photo). On the 25th of December 2014,  L.A. travelled to the frontline in Kobane when ISIS was starting to take on major losses inflicted by both coaltion strikes and the fight with the Kurdish YPG. Typically, ISIS takes the position that it does not allow women to be involved in fighting. It is possible that with the severe loses ISIS was experiencing they needed the ability to gather intelligence using women, and thus allowed L.A. to penetrate into Kobane (below). While on the frontline in Kobane she comments on her interaction with the fighters, “I did not see in their actions, anything but the utmost of respect for me as a sister.”

L.A. in Kobane December 25

L.A. then travels to the ISIS controlled city of Mosul in Iraq on the 9th of January 2015 before continuing on to Aleppo where she stayed from January 11-16 (Below). While in Aleppo she spends all of her time in territory controlled by ISIS’s enemies including: Regime opposition and YPG controlled areas. Given her previous trip to Mosul and her attendance directly in Aleppo, a reasonable inference would be that L.A. may have again been facilitating surveillance for ISIS during her time in Aleppo. Previous reports have discussed the use of the al-Khansa Brigade, “an ISIS unit – predominantly foreign – of women who handle security and intelligence in Raqqah“. This unit is also trained on and regularly carries AK-47’s. ISIS has had its eye on Aleppo since its push into Syria and the timing of L.A.’s visit would be consistent with reports of ISIS’s advances on the city and attacks on Jabhat al-Nusra (JN).

For More on Al-Khansaa Brigade

L.A. in Aleppo Syria Jan 11th - 16th (Battlefront map from PDC LLC)

Hardening up our “Soft Targets”

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soft target hard choicesMumbai, Nairobi, Boston, Martin Place, Peshawar, and Paris. What do all of these places have in common? They have all been victimized by the same terror tactic, a tactic which is difficult to fight. The dramatic September 11, 2001 terror attacks cost the terrorist operatives about $500,000 and countless man hours of flight training and planning to effectively implement. The ongoing terror attacks in Paris and the other places mentioned, cost little in terms of money, training and planning, but cost us an unimaginable amount in terms of precious lives and security costs. We must all remember that we are dealing with savages who are only interested in death and carnage. There will be no negotiations and no egress plan; these savages will die in the process of bringing death and destruction to others.

Although there is no reason to live in fear, or use these incidents to dissolve constitutional liberties, it is now the responsibility of business owners, school administrators, stadium and theater owners in population centers to, at a minimum, have a basic security plan for both a shelter-in-place and an evacuation scenario. If possible, make sure that you make contact with your police department’s community affairs liaison and ask them how you can assist in the unlikely, but possible, circumstance that your city or town is targeted by a small-arms tactical assault.

Some additional steps you can take which would cost you little but would benefit you greatly:

  1. Have floor plans of your business readily available both at the business or location, in electronic format, and in an off-site location, in the unlikely event that your business or location is part of any attack, law enforcement officials will need these plans to effectively strike back.
  2. Disregard all of the politically-driven narratives and do whatever you can do to legally obtain a concealed carry permit. Small-arms tactical attacks by terrorists will never be countered by begging, pleading, telling them you’re a gun-control supporter, or by spewing foul-language at them. These men and women are obsessed with death and have zero-interest in gun “control” laws. They will obtain the weapons they need to carry out their perverse mission; the only relevant question is “will you obtain yours to fight back?”
  3. High-quality video cameras are affordable and easy to install and will assist law enforcement not only with the identification of terrorists and criminals, but also with the identification of the tactics they are using.
  4. Do whatever you can, within reason, to make your big business, school, stadium or theater, “small.” A terrorist involved in a small-arms tactical attack needs to move to implement maximum carnage. Movement is the terrorist’s best friend and your worst enemy. Anything from remote door locks, to cheap door chocks, to security gates at strategic locations can make your big location “small” and restrict movement and buy you and law enforcement, time to respond.

There’s no need to panic and live in fear but there is a need to recognize the savages we are fighting and do everything we can, within reason, to “harden up” our soft targets and make the United States as unappealing a target as possible.