The Immediate Versus the Abstract: Paralyzed by the Islamic State

Is there a reason why the world seems paralysed by Islamic State (IS)? Their seizure, in the last week alone, of Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria, has drawn the world’s attention to the flood of tens of thousands of refugees which have followed the former, and the risk of the total annihilation of one of the most treasured historical gems that is likely to follow the latter. But aside from the hand-wringing where is the urgency to turn these advances around?

The White House has been briefing all week that IS is on the retreat. That may or may not be how it looks from Pennsylvania Avenue but it is not what it looks like in Syria or Iraq right now. Amazingly enough President Obama this week gave a speech to the graduating class of the Coast Guard Academy in which he said the following:

“This brings me to the challenge I want to focus on today — one where our Coast Guardsmen are already on the front lines, and that, perhaps more than any other, will shape your entire careers — and that’s the urgent need to combat and adapt to climate change.”

He went on to say:

“Around the world, climate change increases the risk of instability and conflict. Rising seas are already swallowing low-lying lands, from Bangladesh to Pacific islands, forcing people from their homes. Caribbean islands and Central American coasts are vulnerable, as well. Globally, we could see a rise in climate change refugees.”

Now it may very well be that in the very long term water shortages and all sorts of other factors may cause populations to move around the world, as they have moved for millennia. But there is something deeply perverse about worrying about a far-off problem for which there is little if no precedent so far while failing to address or deal with a problem that is going on right now. The people fleeing Palmyra and Ramadi are not hypothetical far-off victims of nature. They are real people fleeing right now in real time.

Of course American drones from thousands of feet up are currently carrying out intermittent attacks on IS to slow their progress. But it is perfectly plain that this campaign is failing to achieve what must be its objectives – not just the slowing-down but the smashing of IS. Of course America is worried about this as all its allies are. But the response to a real and growing problem in the Middle East cannot be low-level operations and hand-wringing. The US, Britain and any international community worthy of the name should be working out today how to end a group which not only wrecks the remains of several civilisations, but stands against everything that civilisation as a whole must stand for.


dr alen mendoza hjsFROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK 

Within our extensive events programme at The Henry Jackson Society, we sometimes host a discussion with a visiting speaker that is not only informative and revelatory, but which can also have an immediate policy impact as opposed to a more general contribution to knowledge on a subject. Such was the case this week with the visit of Itamar Marcus, the Director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

Since 1996, PMW has chronicled the state of affairs within the Palestinian territories, assessing whether publicly declared statements are being followed through, or if in fact the language of peace often heard in the West is being contradicted by actions contrary to that goal on the ground. Many times, the organisation has discovered that Palestinian media promotes a message of hate rather than peace. Even worse, it sometimes uncovers that messaging like this is promoted by central government authorities that are formally signed up to peace process goals.

In a particularly egregious case unveiled to us this week by Mr Marcus, it would appear that UK – and other Western – taxpayers are helping to facilitate this state of affairs by funding aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that is then funnelled to pay salaries to Palestinian prisoners convicted of terrorist offences.

The payment of such salaries is an established fact – when pressure was put on the PA by aid donor countries last year, it responded by saying that prisoner salaries would henceforth be paid by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from non-aid donor money. Except that they are not, for as Marcus showed us, it turns out that the same money is still being used to support convicted terrorists, and that it is being paid directly by the PA itself. Nor is the PA shy about stating this publicly on PA media, as a selection of quotations can testify.

Why the PA is giving money to terrorists who have caused death and mayhem for Israeli civilians – when it does not pay salaries to other criminals – is one question, and goes to the heart of the issue of Palestinian incitement being a factor in the failed peace process. Why our aid money should be used for this purpose is quite another.

You do not need to be a friend of Israel to recognise that there is something disturbing about this state of affairs. A friend of Palestine can also see that this is not the kind of Palestinian state structure that can be supported. British MPs will be raising this with the government in the coming weeks. Let us hope for the sake of peace in the region that they at least succeed in preventing our taxpayers’ money from being misappropriated in such a disgraceful way.

Dr Alan Mendoza is Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society

Follow Alan on Twitter: @AlanMendoza

America’s Heroes: The Krissoff Family [Video]

As we approach Memorial Day 2015 I received a link to this inspiring video. It is worth the five minutes to watch the story of these American heroes, the Krissoff family.

SEAL Team Six – Extortion 17 “A Cover Up?”

WOW, watch author Don Brown blow the lid off of the official government report about the tragic shoot down of SEAL Team Six helicopter, Code Name – Extortion 17.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Islamic State seizes Syria’s last border crossing with Iraq

Islamic State mag hails Muhammad cartoon jihadis as “martyrs”

Obama: “I don’t think we’re losing” fight against the Islamic State

Cruz: “ISIS is executing homosexuals. You want to talk about gay rights?”

Memorial Day 2015: Honoring America’s Veterans and the “VetSalute” Web Site

vet salute logoSince December 7, 1941 over one million members of the U.S. Armed Forces have been wounded and over 500,000 made the ultimate sacrifice having lost their lives in combat. A much larger number of U.S. military personnel have suffered injuries on active duty. It has been 70 years since the end of World War II, and still some of the Veterans from that war are seeking proper medical treatment from the Veterans Administration (VA).

Today an average of 23 veterans who served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan are committing suicide each day. They may have PTSD, and other afflictions and may have not been receiving the proper medical or psychiatric therapy and treatment thru the VA. We encourage all Americans to support all efforts to provide proper medical treatment for all Veterans from the VA and other civilian medical facilities.

In 2008, because of the dedicated and steadfast efforts of Col Buzz Aldrin, USMA’51, USAF (Ret) PhD, Apollo XI Astronaut (the second Astronaut to set foot on the surface of the moon), a Law was passed, which can be fully explained by clicking on the below link. That law encourages and authorizes all American Veterans, in civilian clothes, to render a hand salute when the National Anthem is played at public events. It allows Veterans to continue to demonstrate their respect for the National Anthem, and it also allows all Americans at public events to see who the honorable Veterans are who served under the flag of the nation, and swore to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution.

At this critical juncture in the life of the Republic when our way of life is being threatened by enemies, foreign and domestic, we encourage all Americans to remember and adhere to President John F. Kennedy (Lt-USN) charge to all Americans during his Inaugural Address, when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.”

The 24 million U.S. Veterans do not have to wonder what they can do for their country. At one point in their life, those Veterans wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including their lives.” Today and every day, we encourage you to remember and thank an American Veteran you may know for their honorable service in defense of the Republic.

Freedom is not free, and over the last 75 years, there were heavy prices paid by members of the U.S. Armed Forces for the liberties all Americans enjoy.

On this coming Memorial Day 2015, in solemn tribute, we join the nation to pay homage to those members of the U.S. Armed Forces, who made the ultimate sacrifice, when they gave “their last full measure of devotion to defend the nation” and by doing so, signaled the world the lengths Patriotic Americans will go to, to safeguard the freedom, liberty, and democracy for all Americans—God Bless their noble souls!

Please visit Vet Salute to learn more.

When Muslims Assassinate

When Muslims assassinate Kafirs who offend Islam, they are following Mohammed’s perfect example. Any Muslim is permitted to carry out the death sentence, vigilante justice. This is why there was an attempted assassination at Pam Geller’s Garland, TX event.

But what is the perfect Sunna on assassinations? There are five examples of Mohammed ordering people to be murdered because of what they said about him. There was a Jewish poet, an Arab poetess, dancing girls who sang satirical songs, a tribal chief who was planning to fight Mohammed and another Jew who offended Mohammed.

So the next time a Kafir who offends Islam is killed, it is because of Mohammed’s standing orders.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Islamic State seizes Syria’s last border crossing with Iraq

Islamic State mag hails Muhammad cartoon jihadis as “martyrs”

Obama: “I don’t think we’re losing” fight against the Islamic State

Cruz: “ISIS is executing homosexuals. You want to talk about gay rights?”

Islamic State approaches Israel

Prediction: If the Islamic State gets into a position to threaten Israel in any serious way, we will start seeing the mainstream media grow markedly sympathetic to it, with a spate of articles hailing the new “maturity” and “moderation” of the Islamic State.

“ISIS Approaches Israel: Islamic State Loyalists Thwarted By Syrian Rebels Along Golan Heights Border,” by Morgan Winsor, International Business Times, May 20, 2015:

Islamic State loyalists in Syria have made attempts in recent weeks to expand the extremist group’s territory near the border with Israel, but have been twice thwarted by Syrian rebels along the Golan Heights. Israel has not yet responded to the incidents, even as mortar shells from the battles with ISIS fighters landed across the border into Israeli territory, Israeli news site Ynetnews said.

In the past, Israel has increased its forces in the Golan Heights near the Syrian border when shells fired by the Syrian army spilled over into Israeli territory, the Jerusalem Post said. However, Israel has remained quiet during the past two weeks as rebel fighters from Syria repelled militants loyal to the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

The ISIS-loyalists have so far failed to gain foothold on the Golan Heights border, which would allow the Islamic State to set up a base for operations against Israel, Ynetnews said. Their attacks have been thwarted by the Free Syrian Army, which reportedly receives Israeli humanitarian aid, in cooperation with the Nusra Front, a Sunni Muslim branch of al Qaeda operating in Syria and Lebanon….

RELATED ARTICLES:

Islamic State seizes Syria’s last border crossing with Iraq

Islamic State mag hails Muhammad cartoon jihadis as “martyrs”

Obama: “I don’t think we’re losing” fight against the Islamic State

Cruz: “ISIS is executing homosexuals. You want to talk about gay rights?”

NYC Mayor De Blasio’s “Contract for Communism”

The Communist Party of the USA is aggressively competing for dominance in our country. The well-researched and written article below by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is a Must Read and take action piece exposing the diabolical ways of a belief system adamantly and bitterly opposed to the values and ideals for which America was created.

The wolf has definitely worked his way into the hen house camouflaged as elected and high appointed officials, educators, opinion shapers in media, and even in pulpits and ministries purporting to do God’s work. Unless the people of the United States of America repent for their addiction to Humanistic Ways and Means, and return to the core values which made America the envy of the world (why else are so many jumping our borders to get in?), America will cease to exist as we have known her. The continued assault on our heritage and ideals from people like De Blasio and his colleagues spread through-out elected offices, along with the imminent threat from the Muslim Brotherhood and its’ many dimensions, will simply swamp the Ship of State called America.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton has presented much food for thought that must be intellectually digested, but then acted on by Americans dedicated to preserving our exceptional Nation. Please heed the alarms sounding through-out our Ship of State…we have hit the ice berg and are taking on water. How long we can remain afloat at the hands of people like De Blasio is anyone’s guess, but my gut tells me not for too long!


 

De Blasio’s “Contract for Communism”

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Red Bill de Blasio just unveiled a 13-point national “Progressive Agenda” that is being touted as the liberal “Contract with America.” It more closely resembles a “Contract for Communism.”

And a majority of Democrats wholeheartedly approve this as the basis for the “Progressive Agenda” – the bedrock for their primary economic policies and the running platform for their anointed 2016 presidential candidate. The mask is coming off… they are going full bore Marxist/Communist and are proud of it. Members of Congress are praising de Blasio for uniting Progressives.

Rev. Al Sharpton stated that the shared goals of Progressives are more important than each individual leader’s specific opinions – how very communist of the Reverend:

“We don’t agree on everything but we agree that we have to deal with income inequality and wages and how we get there,” he said. “We can’t debate that America has to be fair for everybody. We can’t debate that the billionaires are playing games with us and treating us like hamsters on a treadmill rather than people that are focused on the goal line. We will change the debate starting today.”

Comrade Sharpton waxes poetic for the communist agenda. Is anyone surprised that the weasel who is vocally advocating for the nationalization of our police forces stands on a communist perch worthy of Lenin?

De Blasio comparing this to the Republican Party’s 1994 “Contract with America” only holds up if you consider it the very antithesis to such a political platform. But it certainly does lay bare their wealth redistribution and class realignment goals.

Aaron Klein at WND has documented that most of the 13 points in de Blasio’s “Progressive Agenda” can also be found in the manifestos and literature of the Communist Party USA and the Socialist Party USA:

Here is a comparison of the Agenda’s plan with literature from the manifestos and writings of the Community Party USA, or CPUSA, and the Socialist Party USA, or SPUSA.

  • Progressive Agenda: “Raise the federal minimum wage, so that it reaches $15/hour, while indexing it to inflation.”

SPUSA: “We call for a minimum wage of $15 per hour, indexed to the cost of living.”

CPUSA: Calls for “struggles for peace, equality for the racially and nationally oppressed, equality for women job creation programs, increased minimum wage. … Even with ultra-right control of the Federal government, peoples legislative victories, such as increasing the minimum wage, can be won on an issue-by-issue basis locally, statewide, and even nationally.”

  • Progressive Agenda: “Reform the National Labor Relations Act, to enhance workers’ right to organize and rebuild the middle class.”

SPUSA: “The Socialist Party stands for the right of all workers to organize, for worker control of industry through the democratic organization of the workplace.”

CPUSA: “One of the most crucial ways of increasing the strength and unity of the working class as a whole is organizing the unorganized. Working-class unity depends on uniting all the diverse sectors of the multiracial, multinational working class in the U.S. … Speeding up the organization of unorganized workers is one of the most important challenges to labor and all progressive forces.”

  • Progressive Agenda: “Pass comprehensive immigration reform to grow the economy and protect against exploitation of low-wage workers.”

SPUSA: “We defend the rights of all immigrants to education, health care, and full civil and legal rights and call for an unconditional amnesty program for all undocumented people. We oppose the imposition of any fees on those receiving amnesty. We call for full citizenship rights upon demonstrating residency for six months.”

CPUSA: Declares the “struggle for immigrant rights is a key component of the struggle for working class unity in our country today.”

  • Progressive Agenda: Pass national paid sick leave. Pass national paid family leave.

CPUSA: In October 2014, hails that “women are fighting back to defend their jobs and their families against candidates who want to destroy women’s reproductive rights, health care, family leave and paid sick days. Women’s voices and votes can make the difference in this election in the U.S. Senate and House, for Governors and State Legislatures, and in the movement going forward for full equality.”

  • Progressive Agenda: “Make Pre-K, after-school programs and childcare universal.”

SPUSA: “We support public child care starting from infancy, and public education starting at age three, with caregivers and teachers of young children receiving training, wages, and benefits comparable to that of teachers at every other level of the educational system.”

  • Progressive Agenda: “Earned Income Tax Credit.” “Implement the ‘Buffett Rule’ so millionaires pay their fair share.”

SPUSA: “We call for a steeply graduated income tax and a steeply graduated estate tax. …”

CPUSA: “No taxes for workers and low and middle income people; progressive taxation of the wealthy and private corporations. …”

Eerily similar, huh? Getting a little hot in our comrade’s kitchen – in fact, hot damn!

De Blasio considers Obama “too conservative” to implement a progressive economic vision and “too afraid to take the bold kind of action that President Roosevelt took” during the Great Depression. It is widely rumored that de Blasio is considering running for president in 2016. At the very least, his agenda for New York is very clear. No way would I live in New York these days – did you know 46% of the population there lives in poverty? Of course, de Blasio blames it all on the Bloomberg administration. Bloomberg deserves a lot of blame, but if he pulled the city into ghettosville, de Blasio is tripling down on it. He wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, just like Seattle. That was disastrous for Seattle by the way. And now LA has decided that they are copying this suicidal move. Looks like both coasts just can’t get enough Marxism going on. Both are racing to see who can go third-world first.

Speaking at the “Progressive Agenda” launch event, de Blasio said “something is changing in America.” Yeah and not for the better. “It’s time to take that energy and crystallize it into an agenda that will make a difference,” he said. “We’ll be calling on leaders and candidates to address these issues, to stiffen their backbones, to be clear and to champion these progressive policies.” It’s an all-you-can-eat Marxist buffet. In attendance were politicians, union leaders and of course, race monger, Al Sharpton. In other words, the who’s who of America’s communists.

The Hill quoted Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., saying de Blasio’s plan “could be the beginning of a revolution.”

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., commented the mayor’s plan represents “the meat on the bones of a progressive agenda.”

Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said, “The cavalry has arrived.”

Either de Blasio is taking his communist agenda on the election trail, or he is trying to force the Hildebeast even further to the left. But honestly, it’s hard to see how she could go much further left these days.

The Atlantic reported the coalition supporting de Blasio’s plan includes Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party. Cantor was also a founder of the socialist-oriented New Party. Did you know de Blasio once served as executive director of the New York branch of the New Party? Trevor Loudon has done massive research on Obama, who was also listed in New Party literature as a member. WND did as well.

De Blasio’s plan is based on a plan crafted by a George Soros-connected professor. De Blasio’s “Progressive Agenda” was formed around a 112-page policy report at the liberal Roosevelt Institute titled, “Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy.” The author is Joseph Stiglitz… the Columbia University economist who was an integral part of Occupy Wall Street. De Blasio is a big fan, which should tell you all you need to know. Stiglitz wants more government regulation of the economy.

Stiglitz previously chaired the Commission on Global Financial Issues of Socialists International, the world’s largest socialist organization. He’s also an economic adviser to Obama. His Keynesian economics are pure Marxist pablum.

Gavin Wright, chairman of Stanford’s economics department, summarized Stiglitz’s work:

“Broadly speaking, Joe’s theoretical work has had to do with the shortcomings and imperfections of market economy, not from the standpoint of a thorough-going rejection of the market economy but from the perspective that holds out hope for improvement through government regulation or use of the tax system,” Wright said.

From WND:

Stiglitz was a member of President Bill Clinton’s administration, serving both in Clinton’s cabinet and as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Stiglitz’s most important contribution during his time in the Clinton administration was helping to define a new economic philosophy called a “third way,” which called for business and government to join hands as “partners,” while recognizing government intervention could not always correct the limitations of markets.

“Third Way” is an ideology first promoted as an alternative to free markets by Mikhail Gorbachev after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The “Third Way” of governing would be neither capitalist nor communist, but something in between.

In his 1998 “State of the Union” address, President Clinton outlined the “Third Way”: “We have moved past the sterile debate between those who say government is the enemy and those who say government is the answer. My fellow Americans, we have found a Third Way.”

The “Third Way” calls for business and government to join hands as “partners.”

Discover the Networks criticized the theory: “In short, Big Business would own the economy (as under capitalism), while Big Government would run it (as under socialism). Corporations would be persuaded to comply with government directives through subsidies, tax breaks, customized legislation, and other special privileges.”

Soros himself has been a vocal proponent of the “Third Way” economic policy.

Stiglitz, meanwhile, also became involved in “global warming” issues, including serving on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, helping to draft a new law for toxic wastes and serving on the boards of numerous environmental groups, such as the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Stiglitz is calling for a “New Global Economic Order” in which the world is “no longer dominated by one ‘superpower.’”

So you see, the communist ideals are endemic to de Blasio and his “Contract with America.”

In closing, here is the Progressive Agenda he is pushing:

Lift the Floor for Working People »

  • Raise the federal minimum wage, so that it reaches $15/hour, while indexing it to inflation.
  • Reform the National Labor Relations Act, to enhance workers’ right to organize and rebuild the middle class.
  • Pass comprehensive immigration reform to grow the economy and protect against exploitation of low-wage workers.
  • Oppose trade deals that hand more power to corporations at the expense of American jobs, workers’ rights, and the environment.
  • Invest in schools, not jails– and give a second chance to those coming home from prison.

Support Working Families »

  • Pass national paid sick leave.
  • Pass national paid family leave.
  • Make Pre-K, after-school programs and childcare universal.
  • Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and protect and expand Social Security.
  • Allow students to refinance student loan debt to take advantage of lower interest rates, and support debt-free college.

Tax Fairness »

  • Close the carried interest loophole.
  • End tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.
  • Implement the “Buffett Rule” so millionaires pay their fair share.
  • Close the CEO tax loophole that allows corporations to take advantage of “performance pay” write-offs.

There are many on the right pushing some of this crap too – especially Van Jones‘ ’empty the prisons’ mantra. This is a blueprint for solid communism – just say no to Red Bill de Blasio and his commie policies. His “Contract for Communism” is a road map to tyranny and the fall of the Republic.

‘Politically contrived nonsense’: Scientific studies, data and history refute Obama’s climate/national security claims

“It is hard to even take today’s speech by Obama seriously on either a logical, scientific or political level. The speech was so farcical in its claims that it hardly merits a response. It is obvious that the climate establishment is seeking new talking points on ‘global warming’ to change the subject from the simple fact that global temperatures are not cooperating with their claims.

See: Global warming ‘pause’ expands to ‘new record length’: No warming for 18 years 5 months

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If any Americans actually believe the climate claims linking ‘global warming’ to a rise in conflicts, no amount of evidence, data, logic or scientific studies will likely persuade them. But given the high profile nature of the comments, a rebuttal to the President’s climate claims is necessary.

Claiming that melting ICE is more a threat to the U.S. than ISIS is a hard sell, particular given the latest data on global sea ice. See: Sea Ice Extent – Day 137 – 3rd Highest Global Sea Ice For This Day – Antarctic Sets 49th Daily Record For 2015

Contrary to the President’s claims, it seems ISIS may in fact trump ICE as a bigger concern.

Image result for obama climate change

Obama also claimed that climate ‘deniers’ were a huge part of the problem. Obama explained: “Denying it, or refusing to deal with it, endangers our national security and undermines the readiness of our forces.”

Obama seems to be borrowing his claims from Rolling Stone Magazine. See: Forget ISIS, skeptics are greatest threat?! – Rolling Stone: Climate ‘Deniers’ Put ‘National Security at Risk’

Also see: Paper: ‘Osama bin Laden cared more about global warming than GOP Sen. James Inhofe’

But actually believing the above statements endangers our capacity for rational thought and evidence based research. Actually believing Obama’s climate claims, undermines our nation’s ability to distinguish real threats from politically contrived nonsense.

UN climate treaties and EPA climate regulations will not prevent wars, conflicts or impact the creation of terrorist groups.

The President seems to believe every modern malady is due to ‘global warming’ See: White House doom: Climate change causes allergies, asthma, downpours, poverty, terrorism – Lists 34 effects

President Obama claimed that man-made climate change was partly responsible for the civil war in Syria. “It’s now believed that drought, crop failures, and high food prices helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war in the heart of the Middle East,” Obama said.

First off, extreme weather is not getting more ‘extreme.’ See: Extreme weather failing to follow ‘global warming’ predictions: Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Droughts, Floods, Wildfires, all see no trend or declining trends

But such drought claims are not new or unique to President Obama. In 1933, similar baseless claims were made. See: 1933 claim: ‘YO-YO BANNED IN SYRIA – Blamed For Drought’

ScreenHunter_174 Sep. 03 22.08

For a larger view click on the image.

In addition, in 1846, in Australia, Aborigines blamed the bad climate on the introduction of the White man in Australia. During World War 2, some blamed the war for causing unusual weather patterns. In the 1970s, the exact same things (bad weather) we are talking about today, were  blamed on man-made global cooling.

Global warming is not a threat to the world, but global warming ‘solutions’ are. The estimated 1.2 billion people in the world without electricity who are leading a nasty, brutish and short life, will be the ones who “will pay” for global warming solutions that prevent them from obtaining cheap and abundant carbon based energy. See: S. African activist slams UN’s ‘Green Climate Fund’: ‘Government to govt aid is a reward for being better than anyone else at causing poverty’ — ‘It enriches the people who cause poverty’

Simple historical facts undermine the President’s claims about global warming and national security concerns.

Small Sampling of evidence countering President Obama’s claims.

Lord Christopher Monckton, Former Thatcher Adviser issues point-by-point rebuttal to Obama: ‘Does the ‘leader’ of the free world really know so little about climate?’– ‘If this Obama speech was the very best that the narrow faction promoting the extremist line on global warming could muster for their mouthpiece, then the skeptics have won the scientific, the economic, the rational, and the moral arguments – and have won them hands down.’

‘All Large European Wars Occurred With CO2 Below 350 ppm’ Via Real Science website- Most Of The World’s Wars Occurred Below 350 PPM CO2 — ‘Now that we know that war is caused by global warming, I was very surprised to discover that the vast majority of wars occurred before 1988 – including the War of 1812′

UN Climate Chief: Middle East Was Peaceful When CO2 Was Below 350 PPM — UN’s Christiana Figueres: ‘Food shortages and rising prices caused by climate disruptions were among the chief contributors to the civil unrest coursing through North Africa and the Middle East’

Scientific studies comprehensively debunk the notion that rising carbon dioxide will lead to more wars.

Flashback: Debunked: the ‘climate change causes wars’ myth –Peer-reviewed paper ‘thoroughly eviscerates’ climate war claims — ‘The primary causes of civil war are political, not environmental’

‘A total takedown’ of myth by the Center for Strategic and International Studies — ‘Since the dawn of civilization, warmer eras have meant fewer wars. The reason is simple: all things being equal, a colder climate meant reduced crops, more famine and instability. Research by climate historians shows a clear correlation between increased warfare and cold periods. They are particularly clear in Asia and Europe, as well as in Africa’

Scientific American: ‘Greens Should Stop Claiming More Warming Means More War’

Follow the (military) money: Is the military ‘taking on climate change denialists’ or simply following the lead of its civilian leaders?

Conflict Deaths and Global Warming – ‘The problem is that the conflicts that are cited as examples of the phenomenon are located in areas known for both frequent conflict prior to the current warming period and for historical patterns of extreme climates similar to those seen today.’

Der Spiegel Demolishes Syria War-Climate Paper By Kelley et al.: ‘Hardly Tenable’…’Distraction From Real Problems’

Even BBC features harsh criticism of new study: ‘Their strong statement about a general causal link between climate and conflict is unwarranted by the empirical analysis that they provide’ — BBC: Rise in violence ‘linked to climate change’ — ‘Changes in temperature or rainfall correlated with a rise in assaults, rapes and murders’

Climate Depot Round Up Counters global warming/war claims:

Climate Depot’s rebuttal to Sen. John Kerry’s climate change/national security claims

Study: Cold spells were dark times in Eastern Europe: ‘Cooler periods coincided with conflicts and disease outbreaks’ –Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’: ‘Some of Eastern Europe’s greatest wars and plagues over the last millennium coincided with cold periods’ — ‘The Black Death in the mid-14th century, the Thirty Years’ War in the early 17th century, the French invasion of Russia in the early 19th century and other social upheavals occurred during cold spells. The team suggests food shortages could explain the timing of some of these events’

New study: Global cooling led to wars, famine and plagues in 1560-1660: Cold ’caused successive agro-ecological, socioeconomic, and demographic catastrophes’

Global Conflict Not Linked to Global Climate Change — ‘Wars in Burundi, Chad, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Peru, the Comoros, Congo, Eritrea, Niger, and Rwanda are so numerous that I could probably make a statistical argument that one in five wars are due to the AFC winning the Super Bowl’

Discovery News: Cold times led to angry runts, famine, and war; warm times led to The Renaissance

Remarkably sane article in Science: Warm periods are good, cold periods are bad

Time Mag reports: ‘Peaks of social disturbance such as rebellions, revolutions, & political reforms followed every decline of temperature’ — ‘Number of wars increased by 41% in Cold Phase’ — ‘Peaks of social disturbance such as rebellions, revolutions, and political reforms followed every decline of temperature, with a one- to 15-year time lag’

Study: Climate change ‘NOT to blame’ for African civil wars — ‘Climate variability in Africa does not seem to have a significant impact on risk of civil war’

A UN IPCC Scientist’s New Study! ‘Global Warming Sparks Fistfights & War, Researchers Say’: ‘Will systematically increase the risk of many types of conflict ranging from barroom brawls & rape to civil wars & international disputes’ — Climate Depot Responds

Related Links:

Watch Now: Morano in lively TV climate debate with enviro lobbyist: ‘The points she just made are demonstrably not true’

Sen. Inhofe calls Obama’s climate national security claims a ‘severe disconnect from reality’– Inhofe: ‘While the president has spent at least $120 billion on climate change initiatives since first taking office, he has also set into motion more than $1 trillion in budget cuts to our national defense. When I talk to military personnel, whether in Oklahoma or overseas, their greatest concern is not climate change. Instead, what I hear is their concern for global instability, the disarming of America and the lack of vision from their commander-in-chief.’

As Ramadi Falls, Obama Gives Troops Global Warming Speech

Obama Readies U.S. Troops For The War On ‘Global Warming’

Obama Tells Coast Guard cadets ‘dereliction of duty’ not to fight ‘global warming’ – In his speech, Obama said denying climate change or refusing to deal with it is negligence and “dereliction of duty.” “If you see storm clouds gathering or dangerous shoals ahead you don’t just sit back and do nothing,” President Obama said Wednesday. “You take action to protect your ship, to keep your crew safe. Anything less is negligence. It is a dereliction of duty. So to with climate change.” “Denying it or refusing to deal with it endangers our national security,” Obama also said. “It undermines the readiness of our forces.” PRESIDENT OBAMA: Climate change is one of those most severe threats. This is not just a problem for countries on the coasts or for certain regions of the world. Climate change will impact every country on the planet. No nation is immune. So I am here today to say that climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security. And make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country. So we need to act and we need to act now. After all, isn’t that the true hallmark of leadership? When you’re on deck, standing your watch, you stay vigilant, you plan for every contingency. If you see storm clouds gathering or dangerous shoals ahead you don’t just sit back and do nothing. You take action to protect your ship, to keep your crew safe. Anything less is negligence. It is a dereliction of duty. So to with climate change. Denying it or refusing to deal with it endangers our national security. It undermines the readiness of our forces.

Obama: Climate ‘deniers’ endangering national security – “Climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security, and, make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country,” Obama told new Coast Guard officers at the academy’s New London, Conn., campus. “And so we need to act — and we need to act now.”
Republicans in Congress, however, have stymied legislative action on climate change. The president took aim at GOP critics, saying temperatures are rising even though “some folks back in Washington” refuse to admit it. “Denying it, or refusing to deal with it, endangers our national security and undermines the readiness of our forces,” Obama added. He also questioned how Republicans could claim to support the military while downplaying the effects of global warming. “Politicians who say they care about military readiness ought to care about this as well,” he said. Obama claimed the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria and the civil war in Syria were both fueled by instability caused by severe drought and crop losses connected to rising temperatures.

An Economic Slant: The Three-Way Struggle Between America, Russia and the Vatican [+Videos]

keysThe subtitle of Malachi Martin’s best-selling “Keys of This Blood,” indicates that the super-powers are involved in a three-way struggle for world supremacy. The book may have overlooked our 500 point stock market crash a month after John Paul’s visit in 1987.

With the take-down of the Berlin Wall and Communism, orchestrated by President Reagan and John Paul, it looked like the west was supreme until Pope Benedict visited the U.S. in 2008 and the economy crashed months later.

While the pope’s visit and the economy may not seem related, an undisclosed source said her son was high up in the hierarchy of priests and he visited the Vatican every 2-3 weeks. He said in 2008, Mother, before the elections, life in the U.S. will change forever. Things will never be the same.

With the economy on edge and another pope coming, we should be prepared for “change,” even as Obama also promised change in 2008. But aren’t we seeing more change than we want?

We might get off this merry-go-round if we could turn the clock back to what made America great for hundreds of years before the womb became the most dangerous place in America and a small minority wanted to redefine marriage.

Speculation on the pope’s proposed visit suggests flowery words and another effort to change our historic focus. He has already expressed a desire to see us re-distribute our wealth. If his system is so great, why are all the countries south of our border (colonized by Spain and dominated by Rome for at the same time of America’s development), so poverty-stricken and illiterate?

On a visit to Colombia and Venezuela in 1960, this writer found virtually everyone wanting to come to America someday. When I arrived in Venezuela, there was a huge Communist demonstration for the president of Cuba who was arriving at the same time.

Catholicism seems to be breeding ground for economic and political discontent. In that context, people prefer Communism’s promise to share equally  with everyone instead of our historic focus of liberation to be responsible for our own welfare.

A great example is a 10-year old black girl, now CEO of Bee-Sweet Lemonade who accepted $60.000 for a quarter share in her business after an interview on Shark Tank.

Another good example is Ben Carson who was an angry young man in Detroit, but came to the top because he changed his attitude and quit blaming others for his choices.

Speaking of Detroit, we might not understand how it happens, but Karen Hudes, World Bank whistle-blower says Detroit’s tax-dollars go by treaty to the United Kingdom and then are transferred to the Vatican Bank (hear it at the 7:30 point):

Shouldn’t there be some investigative journalism and reporting of how this works? Another example is the $2.3 Trillion missing from the Pentagon budget announced by Rumsfeld. Was his announcement knowingly planned for the eve of 9-11 so there was no follow-up?

America is hemorrhaging, and now the pope is coming to help us get morality and virtue to discover our social responsibility?

Thinking About China

Napoleon Bonaparte purportedly said “Let China sleep, for when China wakes, she will shake the world.”

Cover - China ChallengeAs Thomas J. Christensen, the author of his recently published “The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power”, reminds us, “For millennia China was arguably the greatest civilization on the planet and for many previous centuries its most powerful empire.”

China is no longer an empire, but it remains a huge nation geographically and huge in terms of its population.

From the website worldometers.info, we learn:

Christensen is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Currently he is the William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics and director of the China and World Program at Princeton University. After reading his book, you might well conclude that there is little about China and Asia he does not know.

We are mostly dependent on various news stories about China to have any idea what is occurring, but the fact remains that just as the U.S. has its optimists and pessimists, conservatives and liberals who influence policy the same exists for China, so a lot depends on who is being quoted. Generally, though, it is only the top leaders who are. That means we are getting the Chinese “party line” and the occasional general or admiral warning against any aggression.

China did not begin to awaken as a modern nation until after the death of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, a Communist with a capital “C.” Christensen notes that, while keeping its political ideology, the leader that followed him made a “peaceful transformation launched under CCP leader Deng Xiaopping in 1978 and the collapse of the superpower Soviet Union thirteen years later that made China appear to stand tall again among the great powers.” The transitition was to a capitalist-based economy.

These days the Chinese and the Russians are making efforts to achieve areas of cooperation and, in particular, their militaries. They hold drills together for common defense strategies.

Christensen believes that “China’s return to great power status is perhaps the most important challenges in twenty-first century American diplomacy”, but to put that in context he points out that “China’s per capita income is only one fifth that of the United States” and “though a true trade superpower, many of its exporters are controlled at least in part by foreign investors.”

“Still, the pessimists do not give enough credit to the sustainability of U.S. leadership in Asia,” says Christensen. “For example, they often underestimate the value of American’s unparalleled network of allies and security partners.” You can be sure that the Chinese leadership does not.

They also have, as one would expect, concerns about U.S. military power in their area of the world, but they feel the same about Japan and South Korea as well. “China is not currently an enemy of the United States,” says Christensen, nor is it likely to be for a long time to come.

“It does not need to be contained like the (former) Soviet Union. Nor should China become the kind of regional or global adversary that we have faced in the past, although that outcome, unfortunately, is still a distinct possibility.” That possibility depends on China’s leadership now and in the future. For now they are concentrating on their economy and are likely to do so for many years to come.

Chinese Money“China’s economic clout is real and growing rapidly, especially since the 2008 financial crisis. China has been the main engine of growth for the world’s economy since that time and, by some measures, has become the world’s number one trading state.” There is only one reason why the U.S. has not yet recovered from the financial crisis and his name is Barack Obama.

I suspect that Obama is held in disdain by the Chinese leadership despite all the public handshakes. For one thing, China weathered the financial crisis far better than the U.S. “One of the burdens the new Obama administration inherited in early 2009 was a China bearing a mix of cockiness and insecurity that would negatively influence its policies in 2009-2010,” says Christensen and as the U.S. foundered in Afghanistan and Iraq “American power inspired less awe.”

“Sometime in 2012, the ‘Asia pivot’” of the Obama administration “would be jettisoned in Washington for the more subtle ‘Asia rebalance.’” If you get the feeling that the Obama administration has no real China policy or one that will have little influence, you are right.

With regard to China, It likely does not matter what the Obama administration does for its remaining one and a half years in office.

Various scholars and diplomats will continue to keep a watchful eye on China and most surely many corporate leaders and U.S. entrepreneurs will do so as well given its huge population as a marketplace. It’s already a great tourist destination.

Napoleon was right.

© Alan Caruba, 2015

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Did Pope Francis call Abu Mazen an ‘Angel of Peace’?

Today we try something a little different as we go back to our “radio-only” days, before we started producing a regular TV show.

So listen as we take some “calls” from our (make-believe) audience and enjoy the ride. Of course, we have to address the nonsensical decision of the Vatican to recognize “Palestine” as a “State,” and just what state may that be?

Tune in and find out.

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Canada: 10 Muslims arrested at airport on suspicion of leaving to join Islamic State

Islamic State seizes Syrian city of Palmyra, threatening ancient ruins

Garland, Texas imam calls for restrictions on the freedom of speech

That is always the endgame for Islamic supremacists: to destroy the freedom of speech so that Islam cannot be criticized and the jihad cannot be opposed, so that it can advance unimpeded. People have no idea what is at stake in this controversy.

“Group that hosted Prophet Muhammad Cartoon Contest has Houston supporters,” by Joel Eisenbaum, Click2Houston.com, May 13, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

But other Houstonians, including a Houston area Muslim imam, who condemned the Garland attack, but supports restrictions on free speech, believes incendiary language should be restricted by law.

“I think there needs to be a change to the law where people do not disrespect especially high people,” Imam Mobasher Ahmed said.

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Bosch Fawstin on his ‘Drawing of Muhammad’

Join us in this fascinating conversation with artist Bosch Fawstin, winner of the Inaugural Muhammad Art Exhibit in Garland Texas, May 3, 2015.

If you never heard of Bosch and his gripping aggressive writing and drawing until the Islamic State attack in Texas, after watching this show you will want to know more about Bosch and his groundbreaking work. Fawstin, a former Muslim, has the bona fides to critique Islam from the inside and the artistic talent to illustrate the inconsistencies and absurdity of Islamic prohibitions against even non-Muslims drawing a picture of Muhammad, Moses or Jesus!

An added benefit to this discussion is that both Bosch and I share some of our personal experiences in this show about being under attack at the Culwell Convention Center by Muslim terrorists…who are now dead.

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4 Year Sentence for Returning Dutch ISIS Fighter Who Threatened Geert Wilders

The Public Prosecutors in the Hague are demanding a sentence of less than four years for an ISIS returnee who threatened the life of Geert  Wilders. The NLTimes reported:

Suspected jihadist Mohamed A discussed plans for an attack on PVV leader Geert Wilders with others. This was revealed during the criminal case against the 22 year old man from Delft, who is on trial for the preparation of a robbery and possession of three firearms.

NOS reports that A refused to respond to questions about the intercepted conversations regarding an attack on Wilders. He kept repeating that he invokes his right to remain silent, but he previously stated that the conversations were “tough talk” and “James Bond stories”.  These conversations took place in A’s mother’s car, in which the police had placed listening devices.

A was arrested last year after an undercover police operation. At the request of an undercover agent A. purchased three firearms to commit a robbery. This operation was set up after the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) tipped the police that A was trying to get money together to finance the international jihad.

According to the AIVD, A is a returned foreign rebel fighter in the Syrian civil war and he spent six months in Syria. This is based on the statement from Jejoen Bontinck, another foreign rebel fighter who recognized A in a photograph. Bontinck claims that he and A met in the ISIS camp and spent one day together in an ISIS cell. According to Bontinck, A. was locked up because he did not follow an order from a superior.

A denies this. “I spent six months in Turkey and i was on the border between Turkey and Syria 11, 12 times. I helped poor people there.”

This should be a warning to the ruling Rutte Coalition in the Hague Parliament that a threat to one member is a threat to all.  Further, it underlines the suggestions by Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, that Holland should reassert national border controls, notwithstanding being a signatory of the Shengen open borders system covering 26 EU nations. It also illustrates the dilemma the Dutch face from having adopted a liberal immigration and welfare system that facilitated mass Muslim immigration-the Dar al-Hijra doctrine. Thus, creating  a large minority Muslim community rejecting foundational Judeo Christian values seeking to impose compliance with Islamic Sharia law.  Moreover, with the rise of the Salafist /Jihadist self-styled Islamic State, Dutch Muslim émigrés like A Mohammed and hundreds if not thousands of others feel compelled to join to fight for the self-declared Caliphate.  Wilders has proposed that such returning Jihadists be stopped at the borders and be subject to a mandatory review of their citizenship, passports taken away and ejected.

Yesterday, Wilders sent a letter to the Speaker of the Hague Parliament requesting that an exposition of the Garland AFDI Muhammad  Art Expo be held there.  During an interview on the Fox News Hannity show, Wilders suggested that the best way of assuring freedom of expression would be to put on additional Muhammad cartoon competitions and expos like the one he proposed for the Hague Parliament.  He wrote in a May 18, 2015 Fox News op-ed::

The winner of the Garland cartoon contest was a former Muslim. There is something very symbolic about the fact that he is an apostate. Under Islamic Sharia law, apostasy is punishable by death. Under the same law, making illustrations of the prophet Muhammad is also punishable by death.

[…]

Under Islamic Sharia law, depicting Muhammad is a crime. But as an American, the artist is not living in an Islamic country. He is living in America. In America, you are allowed to make pictures and drawings, no matter what the Sharia says. And you are also allowed to change your religion and become an apostate.

We must do exactly the opposite of what the terrorists want. If they want us to stop drawing cartoons and we react by showing even more cartoons, the terrorists will have lost. This is why I will ask the Speaker of the Dutch Parliament to invite the Garland Mohammed cartoons to be shown in the Parliament of the Netherlands. We should show them all over the free world.

Watch this Wilders Hannity Insider interview video:

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

Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Middle East continues to spin into crisis. Iran continues to move toward great influence in the Middle East, and can now lay claim to be in control of Ramadi, Fallujah, and other regions of Iraq, the very nation America freed from ISIS and brought into order, and a level of peace and calm the country had not ever known.

Obama’s phenomenal combination of ignorance, incompetence, and spoken Islamic bias only adds to the mess. Yet, in spite of these factors, Democrats and their ideological cousins who make up the radical and socialist left still blame former President Bush claiming if he had not lied and went after chemical weapons allegedly stored in Iraq by Saddam Hussein, none of the calamities exploding in the Middle East would be occurring today. Once again the liberal mantra is Bush lied; that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction hidden by Saddam Hussein. Well…I received the below artocle from a U.S. Navy Captain (Ret.), and I thought you might like to read another side to the age-old charges.

The following report was published in the New York Times. The NYT is the last place I would have expected a report such as this. I don’t presume that the clandestine purchase of WMD’s will alter the opinions of any liberals who have made up their minds as to the nonexistence of such weapons, because this is what they intend to inscribe in the secondary school history books for the edification of the next generation of American citizens, and once entered, it etched in the minds of our youth to perpetuity, and truth obliterated in a sea of political correctness.


 

NYT: CIA bought, destroyed undeclared Iraqi chemical weapons demanded by UN

POSTED BY ED MORRISSEY

The topic of WMD in Iraq has been a hot potato for more than two decades, ever since the end of the first Gulf War and the procession of 17 UN Security Council resolutions demanding that Saddam Hussein verifiably destroy them. Hussein ignored those demands and committed numerous violations of the 1991 cease-fire agreement that suspended the war. In 2003, the US went back to war in part over the issue of WMD, deposing Hussein but coming up empty on the accusations of chemical and biological weapons, which prompted the “Bush lied” arguments that have echoed ever since.

Occasionally, caches of chemical weapons have been found in Iraq, reviving the debate, but they have been weapons that had already been declared and transferred to UN control before the 2003 invasion. If the WMD existed in Iraq, what happened to it? Many suspected that it got transferred to Syria prior to the 2003 invasion, but the New York Times reports today that the CIA actually did find at least some of the suspected and undeclared caches of chemical weapons — and destroyed them:

The Central Intelligence Agency, working with American troops during the occupation of Iraq, repeatedly purchased nerve-agent rockets from a secretive Iraqi seller, part of a previously undisclosed effort to ensure that old chemical weapons remaining in Iraq did not fall into the hands of terrorists or militant groups, according to current and former American officials.

The extraordinary arms purchase plan, known as Operation Avarice, began in 2005 and continued into 2006, and the American military deemed it a nonproliferation success. It led to the United States’ acquiring and destroying at least 400 Borak rockets, one of the internationally condemned chemical weapons that Saddam Hussein’s Baathist government manufactured in the 1980s but that were not accounted for by United Nations inspections mandated after the 1991 Persian Gulf war. …

In confidential declarations in the 1990s to the United Nations, Iraq gave shifting production numbers, up to 18,500. It also claimed to have destroyed its remaining stock before international inspectors arrived after the Persian Gulf war. …

The handoffs varied in size, including one of more than 150 warheads. American ordnance disposal technicians promptly destroyed most of them by detonation, the officials said, but some were taken to Camp Slayer, by Baghdad’s airport, for further testing.

This is the first time that there has been any media reporting on finds specific to the disputed munitions that Hussein refused to acknowledge. It sounds as though there were a large quantity of Borak rockets eventually procured, too, not just a few leftovers that might have been innocently overlooked by the previous dictatorship in Iraq. C.J. Chivers and Eric Schmitt also report that these were not the kind of exhausted and expired chemical weapons that the UN had been storing, but still potent enough to alarm the US when they were discovered.

Why this was kept quiet was anyone’s guess, but the secret was tightly held. Perhaps the CIA and Pentagon wanted to keep it under wraps so that they could quietly buy as many of the weapons off the black market as they could, without tipping their hand to the insurgency. That might have been good strategy, but the Pentagon kept it so quiet that it never told veterans serving in Iraq or the VA physicians that treated them later about the possibility that they had contact with chemical weapons from any source. It seems unlikely that the insurgents didn’t get their hands on any of the Boraks — and it’s not entirely clear that the US got them all, either.

This should recast the WMD debate from the 2003 invasion, but it probably won’t. At least so far, there’s no indication that the US found the new chemical- and biological-weapons programs that their faulty intelligence showed Saddam Hussein restarting between the two wars, and that will overshadow even a large number of undeclared saran-filled Borax in any attempt to show that the issue of WMD Intel was at least nuanced. On the other hand, we’ve waited almost a decade to find this out, so it’s impossible to say what else may have been discovered and not declared by the Pentagon and CIA during that period. It may be another decade before we can safely assume anything.