Tag: Middle East

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Iranian Missile Threat

The world’s attention is currently focused on North Korea, but Iran should not be ignored due to its weapons program, its support for worldwide terrorism, and its ongoing aggressiveness in the Middle East. The Iran nuclear deal, which only temporarily slowed down Iran’s atomic weapons program, has not affected that nations’ strategic delivery systems development, including both ballistic and cruise missiles.

According to Ian Williams’ report for the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC.) , “Iran has invested significantly in the development of its strategic forces which today includes the region’s largest and most diverse arsenal of ballistic missiles, increasingly sophisticated cruise missiles, as well as an array of shorter-ranged anti-ship missiles … Iran has also established the technological basis for a nuclear weapons program. This effort has included a blend of overt activities under the auspices of a civilian nuclear energy program, and covert activities aimed at expanding Iran’s nuclear weapons potential without international blowback…even those with the highest hopes for the long-term efficacy of JCPOA  [Iran nuclear deal]  cannot deny that the agreement entirely neglects significant aspects  of malign Iranian behavior. In fact, mounting evidence suggests that the structure of the nuclear deal, its limitations, and its associated provisions have actually had the opposite of their intended effect, abetting and emboldening Iranian behavior and capabilities that fall outside of the parameters of the JCPOA…nuclear weapons, these forces give Iran the ability to impose significant costs upon the United States and its regional partners should conflict occur. They also provide Iran with a kind of deterrent cover to pursue its malign activities in the region with less perceived risk of direct military confrontation with the United States, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and/or Israel. Such a dynamic could easily to lead to strategic miscalculation and conflict.”

A Fox News report based on a Foundation for Defense of Democracies study revealed that Iran has aggressively pursued its ballistic missile program “since agreeing to the 2015 nuclear deal…Iran has fired some 23 missiles …as many as 16 of them nuclear-capable… the robust missile program shows the Islamic republic is bent on intimidating its enemies and preparing for the day when it can do so with the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.”

A Foreign Policy  analysis notes that  “ According to multiple Directors of National Intelligence, Tehran boasts the Middle East’s biggest ballistic missile arsenal. This poses both a conventional and an unconventional threat, with many missiles exceeding the specifications that make them nuclear capable.”
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Iran is proliferating its missile weaponry. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has stated  that  “…the Iranian regime’s behavior is growing worse…Its ballistic missiles and advanced weapons are turning up in warzones across the region…In its strongest language yet, the Secretary-General’s report describes violation after violation of weapons transfers and ballistic missile activity.”

Iran is rapidly developing the ability to directly threaten the American homeland. An NTI study notes that “In addition to its missile program, Iran possesses a space launch capability. Iran has successfully launched several satellites aboard its space launch vehicle (SLV) the Safir, with reports of an attempted launch from the new Simorgh SLV. Many have expressed concern over the dual- use capabilities of these systems and their potential application for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

NTI notes that “Iran is not a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime or the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation. In 2015, to support implementation of the JCPOA, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2231, which called on Iran ‘not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.’ The U.S., U.K., France, and Germany have claimed that Iran’s subsequent ballistic missile tests were ‘inconsistent with’ and ‘in defiance of’ UNSCR 2231, with the U.S. imposing sanctions on Iran in response to its ballistic missile tests, most recently in 2017.”

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U.S. Media Downplays Trump Mideast Success

President Trump has radically changed the paradigm in the Islamic world, gaining extensive cooperation in the fight against terrorism, refocusing Arab hostility away from Israel and towards Iran, uniting regional nations against extremism, reassuring Islamic nations that the pacifism of the Obama Administration has ended, restoring America’s influence, and bringing home about $380 billion in investments as well.

You certainly would not know it from the press accounts of the event. In essence, these extraordinary accomplishments have been ignored as the media essentially complains that Trump has failed to cure cancer, reunite the Beatles, or bring the Dodo back from extinction during his first foreign trip.

Comments made by Saudi King Salman in his introduction of President Trump on Sunday were noteworthy. He called for his fellow Islamic nations to “Refute the frail claims of terrorists,” and join in an effort to block the financing of “this scourge that poses a danger to all of humanity… We say to our Muslim brothers and sisters, sons and daughters everywhere, one of the most important goals of Islamic Sharia is protecting life, and there is no honor in protecting murder. Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and urges its followers to develop the Earth, and forbids them to corrupt it. It considers killing an innocent soul, tantamount of killing all humanity. These odious acts are attempts to exploit Islam as a cover for political purposes to flame hatred, extremism, hatred, terrorism, and conflicts… such as Hezbollah, the Houthis, Da’esh, al-Qaeda, and many others.” The King said he was committed to eliminating ISIS.

In anticipation of Sunday’s historic event attended by the leaders of 50 Islamic nations, as well as by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Foreign Minister al-Jubeir met with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Al-Jubeir stated  that “today was a truly historic day in the relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States and, we believe, the beginning of a turning point in the relationship between the United States and the Arab and Islamic world…His Majesty…and President Donald Trump signed a Joint Strategic Vision Declaration, which sets the stage for the building of a truly strategic relationship between our two countries…our relationship will evolve into an even more strategic partnership. It will deal with ways to cooperate in terms of violent extremism, financing of terrorism, terrorism, increasing defense capabilities, working on a defense architecture for the region – initially between our two countries and then looking at how other countries can join. The Strategic Vision also includes trade and investment, education, and working in all fields in order to enhance our common interests and deal with the challenges that face both of our countries. This is unprecedented. We have not had an agreement, I believe, signed by a king of Saudi Arabia and a president to codify the strategic relationship and where we want to take it moving forward, so this was a great accomplishment…in addition to the signing of this Strategic Vision Declaration, the two countries signed a series of agreements, both commercial as well as government to government; that involve trade, investment; that involve infrastructure, that involve technology, that involve defense sales; that involve Saudi investments in American infrastructure as well as American investments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whether in the form of building up our defense manufacturing capability or other areas. The total value of those investments is in excess of $380 billion. I cannot overstate the importance of such a gathering, and I believe after this visit the President will go to Israel and will go the Vatican, where he will essentially address the Jewish world and the Christian world and try to bring together the three major monotheistic religions in the world into a partnership so that we move from any discussion of a conflict of civilizations and move towards a discussion of a partnership of civilizations.”
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The reaction of many press sources and politicians, both Democrat and Republican, indicates that their hostility towards Trump supersedes their moral duty either to be truthful or place the good of the nation over personal animosity.

The Washington Post called Trump’s speech “cringe-worthy” and  “un-American,” claiming “Trump implicitly rejected the aspirational goals and call for democracy and human rights of former president Barack Obama, because the current President, in attempting to bring together the 50 Islamic nations in the fight against terror, said that “We are not here to lecture [or tell others] how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership, based on shared interests and values.”  The Washington Post apparently forgot that under Obama, terror increased, and human rights, especially those of women, reached an historic low point as ISIS grew to an unprecedented size in the Middle East and the Taliban rebounded in Afghanistan. Forgotten, also, was the spread of human rights abuses by Islamic terrorists in Africa.

Buzzfeed  proclaimed “President Donald Trump’s speech on Islam delivered in Saudi Arabia wasn’t as bad as some American Muslims had expected, but it’s not likely to win them over…American Muslims also noted a glaring omission in the half-hour speech: themselves. There was no acknowledgment of the contributions of the athletes, doctors, actors and tech entrepreneurs who are among more than 3.3 million Muslims living in the United States.

Those directly involved in the Middle East, even those not particularly friendly towards the U.S., disagreed. The Associated Press reported that “Jibril Rajoub, a senior Palestinian official close to Abbas, said Trump was a ‘serious president’ who ‘seeks to have a real deal, not just managing the conflict.”

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Will there be War with Iran?

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government begins a three-part review of the potential for conflict with Iran

Iran’s ongoing provocations, including launching nuclear capable missiles, attacking shipping, support for international terrorism, and ongoing threats of “death to America” and “death to Israel” are bringing the possibility of an armed clash closer to reality.

Confronting the Tehran regime will be fraught with exceptional danger. Iran has a significant military, and is backed by Russia and China.

Global Firepower provides this summary of Iran’s known military assets:

  • 479 aircraft
  • 398 ships (including 33 submarines)
  • 1,658 tanks,
  • 1,315 armored fighting vehicles,
  • 320 self propelled guns,
  • 2,078 towed artillery pieces,
  • 1,474 multiple launch rocket systems

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Iran Primer adds :

  •  “Iran’s forces are strong enough to create major problems for any invasion, and Iran can threaten its neighbors by fighting asymmetric wars. Its conventional military — and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — have significant irregular warfare capabilities.
  • “Iran’s forces pose at least a near-term threat to shipping and tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, and the Indian Ocean. It cannot win a war to “close the Straits,” but can create major problems for petroleum exports for at least a few weeks.
  • “Iran’s capabilities are enhanced by its steadily growing ballistic missile and long-range artillery rocket forces. Iran is also a major supplier of weapons and military advice to Iraq, giving the Islamic Republic influence over Hezbollah, Hamas, and  Iran is proficient at irregular warfare. It has built up a powerful mix of capabilities for both regular and IRGC forces to defend territory, intimidate neighbors, threaten the flow of oil and shipping through the Gulf, and attack Gulf targets. It has a dedicated force to train and equip non-state actors like Hezbollah, Hamas and Shiite extremists in Iraq—potential proxies that give Iran leverage over other states.

“Iran’s acquisition of long-range missiles from North Korea and development of its own liquid- and solid-fueled missiles has given it a strike capability that partly compensates for the weakness of its air force. It has declared that it is a chemical weapons power, and may have a biological weapons program. It has acquired the technology to produce fission nuclear weapons and has enriched uranium to levels where it is clear it can eventually produce fissile material. These capabilities help compensate for the limited capabilities of its conventional forces by increasing deterrence of outside attack and act as a deterrent to attacks on its irregular and asymmetric forces.”

Iran may have unknown access to atomic capabilities, thanks to its close association and technology sharing with North Korea. It may also be able to tap Pakistani-originated nuclear expertise and facilities, as well. (In the nuclear deal reached during the Obama Administration, Iran agreed not to develop nuclear weapons for approximately a decade.)

A Forbes article noted that:

“North Korea’s fifth nuclear test reminds us that Iran could also use its U.S.-begotten trove of hard currency to buy nuclear weapons technology — or even the warheads themselves — from cash-hungry North Korea. Congress might want to keep that risk in mind, as lawmakers debate how to address what appear to be two separate issues, cash for Iran and nuclear tests by North Korea. While there is no public information that connects Iran’s airborne cash bonanza with North Korea’s burgeoning nuclear projects, in the absence of far greater transparency and detailed accounting from the U.S. administration on both fronts, it would be folly to rule it out. Iran and North Korea have a long, intimate history of arms deals, including missile development. This partnership enhances the likelihood that a North Korean miniaturized warhead might be readily compatible with an Iranian missile.”

Breitbart has information that indicates that the danger to Americans  would not be restricted to the Middle East. In a 2015 article, it was noted that

“Experts at a National Defense University (NDU) conference warned that the Iranian-backed narco-terrorist group Hezbollah… has expanded across Latin American and into the United States…the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) expressed concern about the movement of ‘special interest aliens’ in Latin America. Breitbart News reported that U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended at least 474 aliens from terrorism-linked countries attempting to sneak into the United States illegally [in 2014].”

The Report Continues on Monday

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Why Obama Finally Decided ISIS is Genocidal

Long after it had become painfully obvious to even to the most casual observers, the Obama Administration has decided that ISIS is guilty of genocide.  It has, however, failed to admit that its own incompetence led to the conditions allowing ISIS to become a powerful force.

The timing of Secretary of State Kerry’s announcement, and the deployment of Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to Iraq, reveals much about the mindset of the Administration’s attitude towards foreign affairs, not just in the deeply troubled Middle East but also in its perception of the American role in the world.

Since the end of World War 2, the United States and its NATO partners have been the most powerful alliance on Earth, both politically and diplomatically. That partnership was hugely successful. Another world war was averted, and the Soviet Union was stared down and collapsed without yet another global conflict. A period of extraordinary prosperity was ushered in.  Numerous nations gained independence.

This was not accomplished without major cost, both to the U.S. taxpayer and to those who served and sometimes gave life or limb in the armed forces.  But the results were extraordinary.

Mr. Obama and those who ideologically agree with him nevertheless have been uncomfortable with Washington’s leading role. They disagree with the commitment of many billions of dollars to defense purposes instead of social welfare programs. They are troubled by the American philosophies of capitalism and individual rights. They seek to reduce the influence of the United States.

Reducing America’s international role from one of leadership to just one of many, or in some cases a junior partner, just feels right to them.

The conflict in Iraq had already long lost popular support before Mr. Obama took the oath of office in 2009. However, the continuing post-war presence of American troops served an important purpose.  Iraq’s internal conflicts, never far from the surface, were kept somewhat at bay as the nation moved slowly but significantly towards democracy.  Who can forget the images of Iraqi voters proudly holding up purple thumbs, signifying that they had voted for the first time in a true election? Equally as important, the presence of U.S. troops kept a lid on the influence of the darkest forces in the region.

That salutary effect was eliminated when those troops were wholly withdrawn, the last leaving on December 18, 2011, against the advice of military leaders. In 2015, the Washington Times reported that many current and former  military believed that  the untimely and complete exit “left the door open for the Islamic State’s land grab…The assessment comes from the Army chief of staff, a former Marine commandant, a former U.S. Central Command chief, a former defense secretary and, privately, from the officer running the war in Iraq against…ISIS.”

However, when their patent expired a number of online viagra no prescription medications became available on the market. Here we enlighten fast generic cialis you with some useful and constructive medicines named anti-impotent drugs. canada cialis online robertrobb.com It is a significant part of a couple’s relationship to keep their bonding alive and happier for a longer period. levitra overnight shipping Also these funguses are known to regulate the blood pressure and body temperature, boosts immune system activity, and causes the body’s natural painkillers, such as endorphins, to be released. Not long after, in 2014, ISIS began to seize territory in Syria and Iraq. Since then, as Secretary Kerry noted on March 17,    ISIS (also known as Daesh) “is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions … Daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups and in some cases also against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities.…Daesh killed hundreds of Yezidi men and older women in the town of Kocho … Daesh captured and enslaved thousands of Yezidi women and girls – selling them at auction, raping them at will, and destroying the communities in which they had lived for countless generations. We know that in Mosul, Qaraqosh, and elsewhere, Daesh has executed Christians solely because of their faith; that it executed 49 Coptic and Ethiopian Christians in Libya; and that it has also forced Christian women and girls into sexual slavery. We know that Daesh massacred hundreds of Shia Turkmen and Shabaks at Tal Afar and Mosul; besieged and starved the Turkmen town of Amerli; and kidnapped hundreds of Shia Turkmen women, raping many in front of their own families. We know that in areas under its control, Daesh has made a systematic effort to destroy the cultural heritage of ancient communities – destroying Armenian, Syrian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches; blowing up monasteries and the tombs of prophets; desecrating cemeteries; and in Palmyra, even beheading the 83-year-old scholar who had spent a lifetime preserving antiquities there.”

The American military response—limited use of bombing runs– was little more than the armed equivalent of a pinprick.

The premature American withdrawal emboldened more than just ISIS. Moscow has long coveted a much larger role in the Middle East for several reasons.

Russia’s navy is handicapped by a geography that makes many of its ports ice-bound for a portion of the year, so warm water alternatives are a much desired commodity.  Hence, the importance of its naval base at the Syrian city of Tartus. This goal can also be seen in the recent agreement with Cuba to allow the Kremlin’s naval vessels to dock there.

Syria’s Bashir al-Assad has been a valuable ally for allowing the continuation of Russia’s armed presence in his nation, but the value of a powerful presence in the Middle East doesn’t end there.  Moscow’s economy is dependent on the export of energy.  The ability to influence the Middle Eastern energy economy is a major factor in Putin’s aggressive planning for the future.

Russia’s active use of military force in the Middle East was not aimed at stopping the depredations of ISIS, but on the twin goals of propping up a regime friendly to Moscow’s military goals and demonstrating the growing power of the Russian/Iranian alliance, which has now clearly replaced Western influence in the region. Israel, in particular, has been placed greatly at risk by the rise of Iranian influence in the region and Tehran’s increasingly powerful missile arsenal.

President Putin, however, has used the atrocities committed by ISIS as a justification for his commitment of Russian forces in the region. Secretary Kerry’s long overdue acknowledgement of ISIS’ depredations and the deployment of Marines follow in its wake.  What was unacceptable as an American initiative—particularly the commitment of ground troops—is now acceptable to the White House, so long as it is an act that dovetails with, and serves as a junior partner to, the actions of the Russian/Iranian axis.

 

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The Kurds: An untapped solution to the ISIS crisis?

Despite the presence of global and regional powers, the most effective fighting force countering ISIS has been the Kurds, a people not even in possession of a state of their own.

Despite that reality, the U.S. continues to display reluctance to provide these proven fighters, who come far closer to western standards of human rights than most other participating groups, with the weapons they need to protect themselves and defeat ISIS.

Current White House policy for ground forces leans on two local powers, Turkey and Iran, neither of which offer an appropriate solution.

According to the Gatestone Institute  “Apparently, for the government of Turkey, ISIS, which engages in mass murder, ethnic cleansing, mass rape and sexual slavery, is preferable to the Kurds, who resist ISIS and demand rights and liberties that have been taken away from them by the repressive regimes that rule over them…With its limited military power aided only by NATO planes and Peshmerga forces, the YPG are fighting against the immolators and decapitators, and trying to protect innocent people who would otherwise be massacred by ISIS….

The Kurdish militias — the YPG (A Kurdish “People’s Protection Unis” force in Syria) in Syrian Kurdistan and the Peshmerga in the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq — are the only Muslim forces truly resisting the ISIS on the ground. These Kurdish forces are mostly Muslim; at the same time, unlike the Arab regimes or radical Islamist armies in the region, they are secular and protective of minorities. On one side, there is Turkey, whose membership in the NATO has not prevented it from turning a blind eye to — or even facilitating the traffic of — ISIS fighters…”

According to the Council on Foreign Relations,“The Kurds are one of the indigenous peoples of the Middle East and the region’s fourth-largest ethnic group. They speak Kurdish, an Indo-European language, and are predominantly Sunni Muslims. Kurds have a distinct culture, traditional dress, and holiday… Kurdish nationalism emerged during the twentieth century following the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of new nation-states across the Middle East. The estimated thirty million Kurds reside primarily in mountainous regions of present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey and remain one of the world’s largest peoples without a sovereign state… The Kurds are not monolithic[and]have a long history of marginalization and persecution, and, particularly in Iraq and Turkey, have repeatedly risen up to seek greater autonomy or complete independence.”
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Part of the Administration’s reluctance to appropriately arm the Kurds rests with concerns about offending Turkey, a NATO partner. At least one portion of the Kurdish people lay claim to a portion of territory that currently belongs to Turkey. But Kurds also exist in numbers in northern Iraq, Syria, and Iran, and claim title to some territory of those nations.

In 2006, then-Senator Biden called for the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq, as part of a three-way split of the Iraqi nation. He appears to have moved away from that position.

Turkey has displayed no particular enthusiasm for the battle, leaving Iran, which is using the crisis as an excuse to expand its regional influence, as the best armed ground fighting force countering ISIS. ISIS has been, quite bluntly, a great benefit for Iran, even if the two entities are enemies. It has been a long term Iranian goal to place forces in and dominate portions of Iraq. It expands the Mullahs influence in the Middle East, and it serves as a bargaining chip in dealing with the West.

The failure to provide the Kurds, a western-friendly people interested primarily in their own survival with the support they need to confront ISIS is a significant policy error on Washington’s part, one that has led to great and worrisome gains for Iran.

 

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Can Obama Change Course?

The increasing crisis brought about by the depredations of ISIS presents an opportunity for the White House to undo the damage resulting from its prior foreign policy decisions.

In the wake, and partially as a result of Mr. Obama’s early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, the most powerful, well-funded and organized terrorist organization yet seen emerged. In the President’s own words,

“They have rampaged across cities and villages — killing innocent, unarmed civilians in cowardly acts of violence.  They abduct women and children, and subject them to torture and rape and slavery.  They have murdered Muslims — both Sunni and Shia — by the thousands.  They target Christians and religious minorities, driving them from their homes, murdering them when they can for no other reason than they practice a different religion.  They declared their ambition to commit genocide against an ancient people.”
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The need to defeat ISIS is not just based on its actions in Iraq. General Dempsey, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently noted that the group has a “apocalyptic, end-of-days” vision that will eventually have to be defeated …We actually have groups that now kind of are loosely connected, in some cases affiliated, that run from Afghanistan across the Arabian Peninsula into Yemen to the Horn of Africa and into North and West Africa…Some of those groups are local, some are regional, and some are global threats and that means it is going to be a very long contest …”

But Dempsey has apparently been forced to soft pedal his remarks, leading to concerns that the Administration’s record of foreign policy failures—in the Middle East, in the Clinton/Obama “reset” with Russia, in contending with China’s belligerence—has not convinced the President to change course.

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ISIS Massacres: The Background

The Yezidis are an ancient Kurdish/Arab people with a religion that combines elements of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and ancient pre-monotheistic devotion to the sun, the moon, water, fire, earth and air. There were approximately 70,000 Yezidis in Iraq, mostly in Nineveh Province near Mosul in the town of Sinjar until they were forced to flee from the violence of the Islamic State or ISIS.

Now 40,000 to 50,000 of them have fled to Mount Sinjar, a holy place to them since they believe that this is where Noah’s Ark came to rest after the great flood. The mountain has always been their home in Iraq with the remaining 180,000 Yezidis in the world living in Syria, Turkey, Iran, Armenia and Georgia. So the question remains as to why the ISIS wants so desperately to commit genocide on a peaceful people with no homeland, who bother no one and who have lived peacefully amongst both Christians and Muslims for centuries.

The simple answer is that the Caliphate that Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi is creating in the 21st century belongs in the 7th century. The ISIS will tolerate no one who does not subscribe to their fundamental and violent version of Islam for very long even if they pay the Jizya tax and assume the mantle of second class Dhimmitude. They also practice “Takfir” which is determining that those thought formerly to be pious Muslims are in fact not because they do not believe in the Caliph’s version of Islam. This then make them Kaffirs and subject to death as apostates.

The story of their persecution is therefore almost a template for modern middle east politics which for far too many Muslims cannot be separated from their religious beliefs and hatreds. There are Christians on the mountain also. Mosul was for a very long time a vibrant Christian community with numerous churches and monasteries all of which are now occupied by the IS who already have blown up the tomb of Yunus or Jonah. In this act of violent desecration which mimicked what the Taliban did to the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afganistan, the ISIS attacked not just a figure of Christian or Jewish importance but also a Muslim one.

But this was but a mild prelude to the slaughter that came next to both Christians and Yezidis. The ISIS spared no one. Catholic Online reported “There is a park in Mosul,” Mark Arabo told CNN during a Skype interview from San Diego, “where they actually beheaded children and put their heads on a stick and have them in the park.” Other children were gunned down with their bodies left to rot in the sun. Men were crucified and beheaded, at least one woman was stripped naked , turned upside down, had her throat slit and her blood filled up a bowl beneath her as if she were slaughtered in an abattoir under religious law.
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We know this because of photos which the ISIS post as well as others to terrorize the population. Christian and Yezidi wives are also separated from their husbands, raped and forced to be wives to ISIS fighters all consistent with the rules of war established by Muhammed in the 7th century. On the mountain parents are reportedly throwing their children to their death rather than let them fall into the clutches of ISIS. 300,000 Chaldean Christians also have fled to Kurdistan or to Mount Sinjar where they beg for rescue.

As late as 2003 there were over one and a half million Christians living in a multi-sectarian secular but murderous Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Now that number has dwindled to between 350,000 to 450,000 all of whom are refugees on the run if in the north. Those who sought sanctuary in Kurdistan under the protection of the Peshmerga are now once again being threatened by The ISIS forces advancing on Erbil the Kurdish capital with state of the art U.S. made weapons captured from Iraqi soldiers who fled when attacked by the smaller forces of ISIS.

The Kurds are running out of ammunition and need to be re-supplied with everything up to date that the U.S. has. The U.S. also has to use overwhelming air power to obliterate this Da’esh army while it is still in the high desert in open convoys.

Meanwhile the people on the mountain wait for food and water to survive knowing that if they come down that mountain they will be butchered. Obama has promised them that help is on the way. He has inferred that he will use air power if U.S. interests are threatened. He has promised to avert a humanitarian genocide, perhaps in recognition that it was his misguided, premature withdrawal of US fores from Iraq that has caused this debacle to occur.

Larry Allison authored this analysis.

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Obama’s Missing Moral Compass

The “bully pulpit” of the White House has been used by American presidents to steer the nation towards the course they wish to set. Their most important statements also serve as a window into the soul of the nation’s chief executives.

George Washington set the tone for a country ruled by laws, not men, when he proclaimed that “The Constitution is a guide which I will never abandon.” Lincoln’s revulsion to forced servitude was made clear when he stated that “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.” Franklin D. Roosevelt refused to surrender to pessimism during the depths of the depression when he made his famous fireside chat comment that “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” John F. Kennedy inspired generations of activists when he instructed that we should “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do your country.” Ronald Reagan, confounding all the self-proclaimed experts, warned the Soviets to “tear down that wall,” an attitude which lead to the collapse of the Communist regime in Moscow.

Each of those statements was more than rhetoric. They served as the centerpiece of the nation’s policy. That is why Mr. Obama’s stunning quote, delivered Friday to the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, is so deeply troublesome. Speaking of his goals for the Middle East, the President stated that he wanted a resolution in which there was “no victor and no vanquished.” Right now, thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands, are being murdered, tortured and raped by ISIS in Iraq. Syria’s President Bashir al Assad has used poison gas against his own people. Hamas has launched thousands of missiles against civilian targets in Israel. Iran’s leadership calls America “the Great Satan” and harbors many who plot against western targets.

There are a lot of ED drugs made by Sildenafil citrate. viagra canada price Action of mechanism: Before going through the functioning one must be brand cialis 20mg aware of the negative aspects of the human behavior, thoughts and experience. Just as women have been sold on respitecaresa.org generico cialis on line the idea of a serial killer doll was just thought of at Halloween night. You also need to find online pharmacies are there online. tadalafil sale works wonderfully on the physique of the men. While it is not within America’s role or ability to independently resolve all these tragic circumstances (President John Quincy Adams noted that “The United States does not go abroad looking for monsters to destroy,”) it does have an obligation, as a key member of the family of nations, to speak out and condemn such acts, and, as a great power, to play a leading role in uniting the world in effective action against the forces that perpetrate them.

It was highly immoral and utterly counterproductive for Mr. Obama to not express a desire to rid the world of those horrific forces committing those atrocities. Why shouldn’t any decent human being, especially the President of the United States, not wish for the vanquishing of such forces? What could possibly have been in Mr. Obama’s mind when he essentially called for a resolution that would not result in punishing these terrible actors?

For far too long, Mr. Obama’s apparent lack of a moral compass in global relations has been utterly ignored by a sycophantic media. His latest comment is a frightening glimpse into the soul of the world’s most powerful man, and what it reveals is a complete rejection of every foreign policy principle the United States has stood for.

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Jerusalem, Fact and Fiction

Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are on the verge of breaking down yet again.

One of the thorniest issues involves the fate of Jerusalem.  As in so many international issues, there is more emotion and misinformation than facts in the discourse over the problem. That’s not surprising, considering that it is a site of extraordinary importance to three of the world’s major religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Jews and Arabs claim biologic ancestry going back to the beginning of the site’s existence.

Archaeologists  believe the area was first settled in the 4th millennium B.C. near the local Gihon stream.  Fortified walls first appeared in the 18th century B.C., and difficult relations with neighboring nations are indicated by Egyptian “Execration” texts, which reveal that Egypt was hostile to the city.

From 586 B.C. onward Jerusalem, although at times quite prosperous, was subjected to numerous invasions.  According to published sources,  Jerusalem has been totally destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked an additional 52 times, and captured 44 times.

Most famously, of course, was the Roman invasion.  Rebellions against the rule of the Caesar’s resulted in the burning of the old city in 70 A.D. During the Byzantine period, Christianity had a heavy influence, until Muslims invaded in the 7th century.  They were ousted by Crusaders four centuries later in the 11th century, who were ousted by the Arabs in the 12th century. In the 15th century, Jerusalem was taken by the Ottoman Empire, which was defeated by the Allies in World War One.  After that, it was ruled as a British mandate.

Following the declaration of Israel’s independence in 1948, the city was divided between Israel and Jordan. (The United Nations General Assembly sought to establish the city as a separate entity under its own control.) The division lasted until the conclusion of the 1967 war, when a victorious Israel was able to occupy the entire site.
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Neither side has been particularly eager to compromise, and so the issue appears intractable.  Delving through its voluminous history, however, several facts do stand out.

Of the three religions that lay claim to the site, Muslims appear to have the weakest link. The city has been central to Judaism essentially for as long as there has been a Jewish identity, with architectural and archeological evidence of it being the key center of worship. Christ was crucified there, making it the linchpin of Christianity. The Prophet Mohammed never physically visited the City, but is said to have arisen to heaven from there.  Muslims rank both Mecca and Medina higher as religious sites. In terms of tolerance, the period of Israeli control has been more tolerant than that which occurred under Jordan.

A similar comparison may be made in terms of being a national capital.  While Jerusalem has served as a capital city for Israel whenever Israel was independent, there is no substantial evidence  that it has served as either a national or provincial capital for any Arab state.

But over the past decades, Palestinians have made keeping at least a portion of Jerusalem a key part of their demands, and most international organizations, including the United Nations, have been generally supportive. The United States has not recognized Israel’s claim of Jerusalem as its national capital. Therefore, the relative historical weakness of the Palestinian claims has not played a significant role.

It is quite possible that external factors, including both international organizations and individual countries other than the two parties involved, may be rendering negotiations more, rather than less, difficult. The casting of Jerusalem as a prize, a point of prestige in the eyes of the world, makes a settlement based on facts and practicality a secondary consideration.

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Israel Objects to One-sided Negotiations

Is Washington backing off its intensive push for negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis?

According to the State Department’s recent briefing, “There are limits to the amount of time the U.S. can spend if the parties themselves are unwilling to take constructive steps…its reality check time.”

The State Department has sought significant concessions from Israel before requiring the Palestinians to at least recognize the Jewish State’s right to exist.

Israel’s foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, speaking to a Jerusalem Post conference attended by the New York Analysis of Policy & Government, noted that is a “crucial moment” for Israel, which is facing “blackmail” from Palestinians.  He objected to the pressure President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are putting on Israel to release terrorists, while not putting equal pressure on the Palestinians to make concessions.
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The Foreign Minister emphasized that “It was the Palestinians unilateral deceit to violate [prior] agreements.  Israel is ready to discuss any issue.  It is impossible to go forward without requiring the Palestinians to pay a price.”

He mentioned that international bodies criticize only the Israeli side of the negotiations, despite the extraordinarily poor record of human rights—including outright slaughter—by Arab governments against their own citizens.

Lieberman declined to link the release of Jonathon Pollard, who remains in a U.S. prison for espionage on behalf of Israel, to the negotiations.