WarSclerotic

Islamic State in Syria abducts at least 90 from Christian villages
By REUTERS 02/24/2015

(They tell us this has nothing to do with religion or Islam. What a load of crap. Please pray for our Christian brothers. – LS)

Following beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Egypt, IS kidnaps 90 Assyrian Christians in Syria.

AMMAN- Islamic State militants have abducted at least 90 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria, a monitor that tracks violence in Syria said on Tuesday.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the abductions took place after dawn raids in villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority near the town of Tel Hmar, a mainly Assyrian town, in the western countryside of the city of Hasaka, a city mainly held by the Kurds.

The latest offensive coincides with a push by Syrian Kurds in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border since Sunday that had compounded losses for the militant group in Syria.

The incident comes about a week after the release of a beheading video of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in the hands of IS.

A caption of the video released by Islamic State militants referred to the Coptics as “people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church.”

The victims, kidnapped in Libya, deepened Cairo’s concerns over security threats from militants thriving in the neighboring country’s chaos.

U.S. Actions Aimed at ‘an end to sanctions’ and ‘an unobstructed path to nuclear weapons.’
by Sara Noble • February 23, 2015 Via The Independent Sentinel

(Even the United Nations is saying ‘…Iran is hiding “nuclear-related activities involving military-related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile.’ – LS)

The U.S. and the world powers have resumed talks with Iran despite the fact that Iran has violated agreement after agreement, including most recently when they hid military components of the nuclear program.

Expert in political science and senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Emanuele Ottolenghi sees U.S. weakness leading to disastrous results.

“One thing has changed, though. Rather than recognizing that Iran’s stalling tactics continue; or seeing Iran’s nuclear opaqueness as the greatest obstacle to a good deal; or objecting to a deal that does not fully address Iran’s past nuclear and ballistic missile research, the Obama administration has agreed to defer those issues to the ongoing IAEA work that Iran has stymied for more than a decade,” he said in an article he recently penned for Defend Democracy.

“In June 2003, in a rare moment of public frustration, then-IAEA director Mohammad ElBaradei opined that ‘Iran should not wait for us to ask questions and then respond; it should come forward with a complete and immediate declaration of all its nuclear activities. That would be the best way to resolve the issues within the next few weeks,’” he wrote

(more…)

Iran, Hezbollah Reportedly Backing Al-Qaeda Attacks Against US Interests in the Middle East
By David Daoud February 22, 2015 Via The Algemeiner

(Once again, Iran has found someone else to do their dirty work. – LS)

Iran and Hezbollah have been supervising and funding fighters linked to Al-Qaeda to target US interests in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, independent Lebanese online newspaper Naharnet reported on Sunday citing a breaking report from pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran is playing a central role in running the affairs of Al-Qaeda, and even, surprisingly, Jabhat al-Nusra, after it has taken in a number of leading fighters in order to plan terrorist attacks against these US interests.

The sources confirmed that the fighters have been moving between Iranian cities, including Tehran, Meshad and Zahdan. Meanwhile, Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah has been taking care of planning and providing them with financing.

The sources added that the Saudi Saleh Al-Qar’awi, known as “Najm Al-Kheir [the Star of Beneficence]” – the former leader of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades – is the most prominent of the individuals leading Al-Qaeda’s operations from Iran. Accompanying him are a number of individuals who have close relations with Iranian officials.

The sources cited in the report also noted that Qar’awi plotted with the Saudi Abdel-Muhsin Al-Sharekh – one of those wanted under the Saudi “List of 85″ in addition to being sanctioned by the UN Security Council – to kidnap a group of foreigners in Saudi Arabia. But for various reasons, the plot was not carried out. Qar’awi also schemed with others to attack American interests in Saudi Arabia.

Qar’awi also plotted to blow up the US armed forces headquarters in Jordan, after a Jordanian named “Firas” suggested that he carry out the operation in a housing compound frequented by US service personnel. The plot failed, as it was discovered by Jordanian authorities.

Qar’awi also supported a plot to destroy the US Embassy in Dubai by using a drone equipped with explosives, or a suicide attack by a pilot flying a training aircraft. To that end, he smuggled explosives into the UAE, and Qar’awi was awaiting the announcement of the attack, so that his group could take responsibility for it. Yet, this plan was also not carried out. He also plotted to blow up a Japanese oil barge in the Straits of Hormuz in 2010, and a bombing in Heathrow Airport in London.

The cooperation between Iran and these Al-Qaeda elements is unexpected, since Iran and its proxies have taken the side of the Assad regime in the Syrian civil war against rebel and opposition groups, including Jabhat Al-Nusra. Perhaps most famously, Hezbollah and Jabhat Al-Nusra clashed in the 2013 battle of Qalamoun in Syria, bordering the Lebanese Bekaa Valley, resulting in a decisive Hezbollah and Syrian Army victory.

However, this is not the first instance of Iranian cooperation with Al-Qaeda, with the most recent instance being the 2013 Iranian-backed Al-Qaeda plot to blow up trains in Canada.

Iran warns it’ll destroy Tel Aviv if ‘Zionists’ attack
By TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF February 22, 2015, 3:46 am

(Maybe in his upcoming address to Congress Bibi will explain why the Iranians are getting so cocky lately. – LS)

Top Revolutionary Guard figure says Israel ‘does nothing but threaten,’ is afraid to strike

A senior figure in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Saturday that should Israel launch an attack on his country, Tel Aviv would be destroyed instantly.

“If the Zionists were certain that they could win a war against us, they’d have initiated one by now, but since they don’t have the strength to do so, they do nothing but threaten,” said Mojtaba Zolnour, who represents Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the IRGC.

Should Israel nevertheless decide to strike Iran, the Islamic Republic’s missiles will fall in the heart of Tel Aviv, “even before the Zionists’ missiles will reach us,” he claimed, according to Iranian media.

Zolnour’s comments were reportedly a response to Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who said Friday that Israel was doing too much talking about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, and that “if you want to shoot, shoot, don’t talk.”

In an implied attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Yisrael Beytenu party chief recalled that when prime minister Menachem Begin decided to blow up Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981, “we woke up the next morning” to hear about it for the first time.

Similarly, in 2007, when Israel allegedly destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor, “there was no talk about it” ahead of time, he said in an interview with Channel 2 news.

Netanyahu has long threatened to attack Iran in order to destroy, or at least hobble, its nuclear program, although such threats have largely tapered off since the West launched nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

The prime minister is resolved to take on the Obama administration with a speech that he is scheduled to deliver to the US Congress on March 3, in which he will likely warn against an deal with Iran that doesn’t do away with its uranium enrichment program.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to resume negotiations with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Sunday, and Israel anticipates the US may make “more concessions,” Channel 2 reported.

SHOCKING: Hundreds Attend Funeral For Islamic Terrorist, Post For Pictures, Pay ‘Respects’
By Robert Gehl, February 21, 2015 Via Downtrend dot Com

(If you see any moderate Muslims in these pictures please let me know. Take your time. – LS)

At least 500 people showed up yesterday for the burial of an Islamic terrorist who murdered two people in a bloody rampage in Denmark.

The Daily Mail is reporting that many of these attendees were dressed in black and had their faces covered. They followed the hearse as it made its way through the streets:

Respectfully carried the coffin to the burial site.

And when the building where they had the ceremony was too crowded, they respectfully lined up outside and prayed.

They did this for a Islamic terrorist who killed two people. They posed next to the grave taking pictures.

The group that owns the cemetery – the Islamic Burial Fund – almost denied the request by the terrorists parents to have their son buried there – because he was a terrorist – but relented.

How much support is there for violent Islamic terrorists attacks against innocents in Europe? I’d start by asking the 500 men who showed up to pray and pay respects for this killer.

PHOTOS: Getty /AP/ Demotix / Daily Mail

Top Iranian Nuke Negotiator Ordered to Stop Screaming at Kerry
BY: Adam Kredo February 19, 2015 5:00 am Via The Washington Free Beacon

(I saw an article similar to this a good while back. Seems Zarif’s abusive behavior has been going on for quite a while. – LS)

Iran’s foreign minister and lead negotiator in nuclear talks with the United States has been ordered by the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader to stop shouting and yelling at Secretary of State John Kerry during negotiating sessions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told his country’s state controlled media in a recent interview that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has instructed him to stop yelling at Kerry and other top U.S. officials during the talks.

Reports about Zarif’s temper first emerged in the Iranian press last November, when the United States and Iran agreed to extend talks through June of this year.

Zarif is said to “frequently shout at Western diplomats” with such force that bodyguards have been forced to enter the negotiation room.

During one incident described by Iranian officials to the press, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, a chief western negotiator, admitted that Zarif had been shouting, and she had gotten used to it.

Abbas Araqchi, an Iranian diplomat who is also a member of the negotiating team, is reported to have said in an interview that during past negotiations in Geneva, Zarif “shouted” at Kerry and spoke to him in a manner “unprecedented” in the history of U.S. diplomacy.

Zarif appeared to cop to this behavior during a recent interview with the state-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), according to an independent translation of the report provided to the Washington Free Beacon.

Following reports that Zarif shouts at Kerry, Zarif was summoned to a meeting with Khamenei. He referred to this meeting during recent remarks made to a high school class, according to the IRNA.

“‘Why you are yelling in negotiations? Smile and speak,’” he recalled the Supreme Leader saying. “‘Do not quarrel on the negotiation table, reason with them,’” Khamenei continued, citing a verse from the Quran that states “Go, both of you, to Pharaoh, for he has indeed transgressed all bounds.… But speak to him mildly; perchance he may take warning or fear [Allah].”

Zarif added that he begins each day by praying over six verses of the Quran before entering the nuclear discussions. He went on to say that U.S. sanctions no longer have an impact on Tehran.

“Doing business and trade with Iran had a huge reputational cost” for foreigners, but now the situation has changed, according to Zarif. “More sanctions on Iran makes U.S. isolated among its own friends.”

The State Department declined to comment on reports about the Iranian Foreign Minister’s conversations with the Iranian Supreme Leader.

Meanwhile, Khamenei, in a speech this week, said that Iran would impose its own sanctions on the West.

“If [there] is to be any sanction imposed, the Iranian nation too can impose sanction [on them] and it will do so,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the Fars News Agency.

“Iran has also made it clear again and again that the U.S. should leave the Middle East and the Muslim world,” said Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iranian dissident who is an associate fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Both Zarif and Khamenei see themselves on a holy mission. They may have different assessments of what is the best way to reach their goal, which is to defeat the pharaoh of the time, but they have no doubt who is the pharaoh of the time: The West, the U.S., and Israel.”

Rabbi: Change European Gun Laws To Arm Jews
by AWR HAWKINS 16 Feb 2015 Via The Breitbart

(‘The right to self-defense and to the means of defending oneself is a basic natural right that grows out of the right to life.’ – LS)

Following the attacks in Copenhagen, Rabbi Menachem Margolin is calling for gun laws in Europe be changed so Jews can “carry weapons” with which to protect themselves.

Margolin is the director general of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) and the European Jewish Association (EJA).

According to Newsweek, Margolin first called for an exclusive change in gun laws in a letter he wrote following the attacks in Paris that lasted from January 7 to January 9. The letter “called all European governments to alter gun licensing laws so that Jews could carry weapons.”

(Yeah, well good luck with that. The liberal socialists running much of Europe have been disarming their citizens for decades. Here in the US, it’s been much of the same. There’s a constant struggle to defend the 2nd amendment. That is why I and many others spend their hard earned money to be lifetime members of the NRA and work to support safe and effective use of firearms. – LS)

Margolin says he did not receive “a  real response” to his letter. So now, in the wake of Copenhagen, he is renewing his call.

Margolin said:

The government is unable to protect its citizens. Jewish institutions are a main target, and we need them to monitor and fight against antisemitism, but governments do not understand the situation. The serious demand is that every Jewish institution is protected 24/7. When I pick up my son at the synagogue I want to make sure that he is there and he is alive. It is a very basic request.

He points out that security guards protecting Jewish interests in Copenhagen were not even armed. “What are security guards supposed to do if they are not armed?” he asked.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the Copenhagen attack by calling for Jews in Europe to “return home to Israel” for their own safety. Margolin does not agree. He believes the answer lies in changing gun laws so Jews can protect themselves regardless of which country they are in.

Huckabee: Iran regime a ‘snake’ to be killed before it bites
BY RAPHAEL AHREN February 15, 2015, 2:11 pm Via The Times of Israel

(Regardless of the media hype, the USA has always supported Israel and all indications are that we will continue that support throughout the future. We will survive the Obama administration and emerge a stronger nation, you can bet on it. The seemingly unending articles we see about America’s doom are overblown. Sure, many of them attack the Obama regime, and rightfully so, but that’s not what America is today. Virtually nothing has changed here at home except for the determination of hard working Americans to overcome this ‘glitch’ in governance. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I hope we can become more fair and balanced when reporting about the USA and our steadfast relationship with Israel – LS)

In Jerusalem, presidential hopeful says Congress speech won’t hurt Israel support; compares Netanyahu to Reagan, Churchill, FDR.

Israel will continue to enjoy full support, even from Democrats, despite the current tension surrounding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress, former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Sunday.

Speaking to Israeli journalists in Jerusalem, Huckabee compared Iran to a “snake” that cannot be trusted and should be “killed,” and said Netanyahu might be “uniquely qualified” to warn the world of the threat Tehran would pose if it acquired nuclear weapons.

Several Democratic members of Congress indicated they would boycott Netanyahu’s March 3 address, in which he is expected to attack the US government’s effort to finalize a nuclear agreement with Iran. The controversy surrounding House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to the prime minister without informing the administration has further hurt already tense relations between Washington and Jerusalem, with politicians and Jewish groups calling on him to cancel.

Huckabee, a contender for the Republican presidential ticket in 2016, wholeheartedly endorsed Netanyahu’s intention to go ahead with the address.

“Americans need to know what those dangers are with Iran and that the Iranian threat is not unique to Israel, that it does, in fact, involve the United States and the rest of the world,” he said.

Support for Israel won’t become a bipartisan issue, asserted Huckabee. “There is still strong support for Israel [in Congress]. Now there’s not strong support for John Boehner among the Democrats, so you have to understand what’s going on beneath the surface. This is not a snub to the prime minister. This is the internal politics between Democrats and Republicans.”

Many Congressional Democrats might boycott the speech out of “political courtesy and/or necessity” toward the White House, he suggested. “That does not indicate in any way that they’re not strong Democratic supporters of Israel. Because they are.”

Israel is one of the few issues in American politics that have never been a partisan issue and the current tension will not change that, said Huckabee, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 until 2007, and ran for president in 2008. “That’s more of an internal squabble that happens just as there are some internal squabbles that happen in the Israeli government.”

If he were president and were to find himself in a similar situation, he would “make lemonade out of a lemon” by publicly welcoming the prime minister to the White House regardless of any diplomatic irregularities in the way the invitation was extended.

“Then when you get behind closed doors you beat the daylights out of him, that’s fine. But you don’t disagree with your friends on the front pages of the papers,” Huckabee said. “There is a time and place to disagree. You don’t yell at your wife in front of the neighbors.”

(Note: Huckabee can get a bit carried away with his metaphors as in this case, but he means well. – LS)

The former Fox news television show host also criticized President Barack Obama for refusing to meet Netanyahu in the White House due to the visit’s close proximity to the March 17 Knesset elections. If he were president, he would not put limits to visits by allies if urgent matters were on the agenda, he promised. “When there are imminent issues in the world — and there are — it seems that the issues take precedence over the personalities involved.”

Huckabee gave great importance to Netanyahu’s planned address to Congress, suggesting it could turn the tide of history and prevent a bad Iran deal. “Of course the speech matters,” he said. “Did FDR’s speech after Pearl Harbor matter? You bet it did. Did Churchill’s speech to the Brits matter, when he gave them courage? You bet it mattered. Did Ronald Reagan’s speech, when he said, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,’ matter? You bet it did.”

(Could very well be the most important speech of Bibi’s career. – LS)

Netanyahu is capable of explaining to the American people why a nuclear Iran is an imminent danger not just to Israel but to the US and to world peace, Huckabee added. “And he may be uniquely qualified to do that. He may have one of the few opportunities to give a full-throated explanation of the significance of this very delicate situation.”

Given Tehran’s history of lies about its nuclear program, its threats to annihilate Israel and its support for terrorist groups, Huckabee said he cannot understand why anybody would think the Iranians can be trusted.

“When you’re dealing with snakes, you’re dealing with an entity with which you cannot reason,” he said. “You can’t pet the snake, you can’t feed it, you don’t try to make friends with it, you don’t invite it into your home — you kill the snake, because the snake will bite you if it has the chance. And the only way to prevent the snake from biting you is to keep your distance, or kill the snake before it has a chance to get close enough to bite you.”

Negotiating with Iran “is like trusting the snake,” he continued. “You can try to calm, and reason with, the snake — but the snake is going to bite when it can. It’s absurd for us to consider that the Iranians are going to be anything other than what they are.”

The 59-year-old former Baptist minister has not formally declared his candidacy for 2016, but has made broad hints at another run. According to several polls, he stands a good chance of getting the Republican nomination.

Speaking to Israeli reporters in the capital’s Inbal Hotel, Huckabee said he has met with Netanyahu whenever he comes to Israel — he frequently leads groups of Christian tourists — but admitted he has not met with the Palestinian leadership “in the past several trips that I’ve been here.

“My position is a bit outspoken and I’m not sure that they would be delighted to have me. But if they issued an invitation, then I would be happy to consider it,” he said. “My story would not change from what I’m telling you. It would be the same.”