RUTHFULLY YOURS

he terrorist group ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (or Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, for those who prefer the acronym ISIL) can be traced at least as far back as 2004, when founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi pledged his allegiance to the infamous al Qaeda group and its then-leader, Osama bin Laden. The two organizations found themselves compatible, as both were devoted to Salafist Sunni Islam, which preaches a return to traditional Islamic values and practices. Originally known as “Jamat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad”, Zarqawi changed the group’s name to “al Qaeda in Iraq” when ties with bin Laden were solidified. Zarqawi himself was killed in 2006, his successors meeting their own fate later in 2010, and today the group is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

In the aftermath of the United States’ ill-advised troop withdrawal from Iraq, the group prospered, eventually divorcing itself from al Qaeda and declaring itself an Islamic caliphate, so that it is now most commonly known as ISIS. The growth of ISIS has been as impressive as it has been alarming, with well-armed militants spreading across Iraq (where even that nation’s second largest city, Mosul, has fallen to the power of ISIS and is now administered by them) and into Syria, sustaining themselves with funding from captured financial institutions, oil fields, and sympathetic radical Muslims in other Arab countries. They are brutally totalitarian in their adherence to their flavor of Islamic doctrine, having instituted flogging as punishment for the sale of alcohol or tobacco, hand amputation for stealing, and death for failure to convert to the “true” Muslim faith. What is perhaps most terrifying of all is the fact that blame for the rise of ISIS can be laid squarely at the feet of United States President Barack Obama.

In the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq, conducted under then-President George W Bush, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled and a power vacuum was created in the nation. This is significant, because it was precisely Hussein’s brutality and repression that kept radicals like those driving ISIS in check, and allowed a secular government to function. Without this apparatus, only the presence of armed US soldiers carrying out anti-insurgency operations was able to restrain a beast that would otherwise break its leash. Sadly, that leash was broken when Barack Obama made the decision to call back American troops and abandon the nation of Iraq, leaving to its own devices a country fundamentally destabilized by American action, and ignoring the United States’ moral responsibility there. Of course, claims were made that the newly instituted democratic government under Nouri al-Maliki would now step up and hold back the insurgents, but in reality this young administration, still finding its legs as a governing force, had no hope of standing up to the well-oiled machine of ISIS. Alarming – and, frankly, embarrassing – stories of regular Iraqi military units being routed and sent fleeing by terrorist bands hit the headlines, and the stage was set for ISIS to enter primacy. And now, sadly, Iraq and Syria are only the beginning. ISIS is ambitious indeed, aiming to capture Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. The potential nightmare which the Middle East now faces cannot be overstated.

It appears that reality is not cooperating with the myth that man-made CO2 is causing global warming. Recent satellite images show that both the Arctic and the Antarctic sea ice have dramatically increased in size and thickness.

Despite Al Gore’s 2007 apocalyptic predictions that in just 7 more years the Arctic ice cap will be “completely gone,” it has instead dramatically increased by 43% in size since 2012. The North Pole ice cap grew by 1.715 million square kilometers, an area the size of Alaska, in the last two years. In solidarity, the South Pole ice cap has also reached record-breaking levels, and not stands at 20 million square kilometers, the highest level since records began.

Al Gore (2007): “The [Arctic] ice cap is falling off a cliff. It could be completely gone in summer in as little as 7 years from now.”

Reality (2014):

ARCTIC Ice Cap: Ice sheet growth has been dramatic. The North Pole ice cover has reached 5.62 million square kilometers. “This was the highest level recorded on that date since 2006 and represents an increase of 1.71 million square kilometres over the past two years” an impressive 43 percent.

ANTARCTIC Sea Ice Cap: “Scientists have declared a new record has been set for the extent of Antarctic sea ice since records began. Satellite imagery reveals an area of about 20 million square kilometers covered by sea ice around the Antarctic continent. That is roughly double the size of the Antarctic continent and about three times the size of Australia.”

Elizabeth Warren says it is ‘fair’ to compare Israel’s actions in Gaza to Holocaust By Thomas Lifson
Speaking at Tufts University yesterday, Senator Elizabeth Warren cemented her position on the hard left by agreeing with a questioner that it is “fair” to compare Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust. Daniel Harper of The Weekly Standard picked up on the startling analogy and provided video:

“Eva Moseley, I’m not a student, I’m not an alumnae, but was in faculty life. I was also a Holocaust refugee and I’m extremely concerned that Jews don’t do to another people what was done to them,” said the activist.

“I think that’s fair,” Senator Warren responded.

Gee, I don’t remember the Jews of Germany promising to drive the Germans into the sea, nor do I remember them shelling Germans randomly. One hundred percent of the aggression came from the Nazis, and the Jews, having been disarmed by Hitler’s gun control laws, were completely unable to fight back. So how on earth can any comparison be made with Israel attempting to halt the rocket attacks emanating from Gaza? It is so insane that it defies the imagination.

But Warren continued digging her hole, as Ms. Mosely continued her question:

“You recently said that you believe that Israel has the right to self-defense,” the activist continued. “Do you also believe that the Palestinians have a right to self-defense?”

“Of course. So, and the answer is yes. The direction we ought to be moving is not toward more war. The direction we need to be moving, as I said, I believe we need to move to a two-state solution where both peoples can be secure and safe within their own borders. So, I’m there,” responded the senator from Massachusetts.

One side, Israel, wishes to live in peace, and would happily do so if Hamas (and Hezb’allah and the Palestinian Authority) would give up their mission to eradicate Israel. But the other side does not wish to live in peace with Jews. The stated goal is elimination of Israel. Until that changes, no peaceful coexistence is possible. That is the funadmanetal reality that Warren is oblivious to.

Warren continues to be the darling of the left wing of the Democratic Party, and although she has denied interest in running for president, is often spoken of as the great hope of the left. The idea that someone with such a twisted view of the Middle East could even be thought of for the office is appalling.

I’ll never forget the scene in the movie Independence Day when the missiles, artillery and even nukes fired by US forces were completely ineffectual in the face of the aliens’ force field technology. Indeed, no decent sci-fi plot is complete without the sight of earth militaries desperately pummeling the alien invader’s deflector shield with missiles, rockets, artillery and tank shells, all to no effect.

Prior to the invention of gunpowder, physical shields and strong city walls provided effective protection against the primitive ranged weapons of the day. But for over 1000 years cannon shells, bombs and rockets have been unstoppable offensive weapons that overwhelmed all physical defences.

Today, missiles of all sorts (guided), rockets (unguided), shells and bombs are the main weapons of all the world’s militaries and the only defence is to destroy the enemy’s launchers with your own accurate missiles, guided bombs and artillery.

But all this is about to change radically, because Israel has perfected and battle proven effective force fields / shields for its cities, bases and armoured vehicles. These systems can defeat every missile, rocket, shell and even bomb currently in existence by blowing them up mid-air before they can reach their target.

Israel’s Iron Dome has intercepted over 1,000 rockets aimed at Israeli cities, towns and infrastructure with a success rate of over 90% in 2014 – and steadily rising (from 84% in 2012). Advanced radar detects the incoming rocket, computers calculate the trajectory within seconds, and the system fires a Tamir interceptor missile which destroys the target. It can also destroy artillery shells and long range mortars. Despite over 4,500 deadly rockets fired at Israeli cities and towns during the recent 50-day conflict with Hamas, only two Israelis were killed by rocket fire (as opposed to short range mortars). One was in a remote desert area not covered by Iron Dome.

More Hamas rockets have landed in Gaza (causing many deaths) than have landed in Israeli urban areas.

Israel’s Trophy system has made Merkava IV tanks impervious to Hamas’s advanced Russian antitank missiles. The system detects the approach of a missile with advanced 360-degree radar and fires a countermeasure which blasts the approaching warhead to harmless shrapnel. It can stop not just the latest Russian anti-tank missiles but every anti-tank missile in Western inventories, including top-down attack missiles and helicopter- and aircraft-launched anti-tank missiles. Future versions will even be effective in damaging the latest armour-piercing discarding-sabot (APDS) tank shells so that they will be unable to penetrate the Merkava’s armour.

The United States has a problem with Islamic State. Its problem is that it refuses to acknowledge why Islamic State is a problem.

The problem with Islamic State is not that it is brutal. Plenty of regimes are brutal.

Islamic State poses two challenges for the US. First, unlike the Saudis and even the Iranians, IS actively recruits Americans and other Westerners to join its lines.

This is a problem because these Americans and other Westerners have embraced an ideology that is viciously hostile to every aspect of Western civilization.

Last Friday, Buzz Feed published a compilation of social media posts by Western women who have left Chicago and London and other hometowns to join IS in Syria.

As these women’s social media posts demonstrate, the act of leaving the West and joining IS involves rejecting everything the West is and everything it represents and embracing a culture of violence, murder and degradation.

In the first instance, the women who leave the West to join IS have no qualms about entering a society in which they have no rights. They are happy covering themselves in black from head to toe. They have no problem casting their lot with a society that prohibits females from leaving their homes without male escorts. They have no problem sharing their husband with other wives.

They don’t mind because they believe that in doing so, they are advancing the cause of Islam and Allah.

A Bakersfield, Calif., man was sentenced to six years of hard labor in North Korea on Sunday in a quickie trial.

The Korean Central News Agency said Matthew Miller “committed acts hostile to the DPRK while entering the territory of the DPRK under the guise of a tourist last April.”

The 24-year-old was denied the right to make any appeal of his sentence.

Miller allegedly wanted to investigate the deplorable human rights conditions in North Korea. Pyongyang said the Californian tore up his visa after arriving in the country.

“A relevant organ of the DPRK put in custody American Miller Matthew Todd, 24, on April 10 for his rash behavior in the course of going through formalities for entry into the DPRK to tour it,” reported KCNA at the time of his arrest.

New Jersey-based Uri Tours staff last saw Miller in Beijing, where they “saw him off to Pyongyang” to meet a local tour guide.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf was asked Friday whether the U.S. was stepping in to try to stop Miller’s trial.

“We have requested the DPRK immediately release him and the other detained Americans so they can return home,” Harf said. “As we’ve said, we don’t always publicly outline all of the ways we are working to return our citizens home, but we are very focused on this and have called on the DPRK to release him.”

“We stand w/ Matthew Todd Miller, an American given 6 yrs hard labor. #NorthKorea should release Miller, Fowle & Bae on humanitarian grounds,” the House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats tweeted.

The White House didn’t have comment. Miller becomes the second American serving time in North Korea.

Devout Christian Kenneth Bae, sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor last year, thought he could help suffering North Koreans in part by leading a tour company in the special economic zones that would help reveal the people’s plight.

One more American has yet to face trial.

According to reports, the House Armed Services Committee is currently preparing an amendment to arm and train the Syrian rebels that will be voted on this week. If passed, the bill will be attached to the continuing resolution to fund the government until December. **UPDATE** The amendment has been posted.

The most troubling element to the proposed amendment is a provision allowing the Obama administration to arm and train rebels with ties to terrorism. The “vetted moderate rebel” groups supported by the administration are known to be partnering with designated terrorist organizations, and the passage of this amendment would give congressional blessing to such arrangements.

According to The Hill:

The measure includes several provisions intended to satisfy Republicans and Democrats worried about giving the administration blanket authority to arm and train rebel groups, who would be used in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

It would require Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to submit the administration’s plan for training the moderate opposition 15 days before the commencement of any such activities, the aide said. That requirement was put forward by the administration, the aide added.

After that, Hagel would have to submit an update to lawmakers every 90 days.

That will be the extent of oversight by Congress — notification by the Pentagon.

Red tape at the Pentagon prevented the development of a drone that could have helped avert the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Compared with, say, a B-2 Bomber, drones are simple things. An empty B-2 weighs 158,000 pounds. The largest version of the Predator—the unmanned aerial vehicle now playing a critical role in every theater where the American military is engaged—weighs just under 5,000. Yet these small aircraft are revolutionizing warfare. Given the simplicity of drones, why did it take so long to put them into operation?

An answer emerges in Richard Whittle’s fascinating “Predator: The Secret Origins of the Drone Revolution.” Mr. Whittle, a military correspondent for the Dallas Morning News and the author of a previous book about the controversial tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey, has combed every available document and talked to almost every American participant in drone research and development. The result is a soup-to-nuts—or ground-to-air—history of the world’s most potent unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.

As Mr. Whittle makes plain, there is nothing especially new about UAVs. Inventors have been fiddling with pilotless aircraft since World War I. By the 1970s, some 120 separate versions were listed by Jane’s, the authoritative guide to aircraft. Few of them, though, had made their way into military use. The obstacles were both technological and organizational.

First, there was the disagreeable fact that drones tended to crash, especially on takeoff and landing. Second, UAVs lacked a constituency within the Pentagon. As Mr. Whittle explains, Air Force pilots did not exactly appreciate pilotless planes. The Army, to the extent that it liked any aircraft, was keen on helicopters. The Navy, for its part, did not relish the prospect of unmanned craft loaded with munitions or fuel landing on carrier decks.
Predator

By Richard Whittle
(Henry Holt, 353 pages, $30)

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN IS SECRETARY GENERAL OF NATO….RSK
The Islamic State and Vladimir Putin’s Russia are enemies of liberty, democracy and the rule of law.

The abhorrent beheading of two American journalists and a British aid worker shocked the world. So did the tragic downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine. The deaths of these innocents show the global consequences of two major crises on Europe’s doorstep: the advance of the so-called Islamic State terrorist group across Iraq and Syria, and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The peace and security we enjoy in Europe and North America are under threat like never before.

These challenges will last for years, and we need to face that reality.

With Russia, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has tried long and hard to build a partnership that respects Russia’s security concerns and is based on international rules and norms. Regrettably, Russia has rejected our efforts to engage. Russia has trampled on all the rules and commitments that have kept peace in Europe and beyond since the end of the Cold War. It is now clear that Russia regards the West as an adversary, not a partner.

The terrorist threat is now growing in Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State terrorists are fueling the fire of sectarianism already burning across the Middle East and North Africa, with the risk rising that terror will be exported back to our shores.

A rule aimed at ‘conflict minerals’ hurts economies in 10 nations—and harms U.S. public companies.

Reminiscent of the racially discriminatory practice of “redlining” neighborhoods, a little-known measure in the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, designed to stop the trafficking of “conflict minerals” from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is not achieving that goal. The measure also discriminates against the DRC’s regional neighbors and is hurting U.S. companies and consumers.

The minerals tantalite, tin, tungsten and gold reportedly are trafficked by armed groups. The Dodd-Frank measure calls on publicly traded U.S. companies who purchase these minerals from the DRC to voluntarily disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission the specific sourcing of the four minerals. But the provision also targets Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda and Zambia as potential sources of the minerals for no other reason than their shared border with the DRC.

In addition to being discriminatory, the Dodd-Frank measure has a highly debatable effect on the flow of conflict minerals, given that private U.S. companies and foreign firms and their subsidiaries are not covered by the provision. Indeed, the law hands those companies a distinct competitive advantage over public companies in the U.S.

The chain reaction of unintended results does not stop there.

U.S. companies subject to Dodd-Frank already are saddled with heavy compliance requirements governing complex anti-corruption and export-controls risks. Many of the companies are voting with their feet, leading to a de facto boycott of mining in 10 African countries by some of the world’s largest consumer-goods companies. African governments, eager to attract investment in their mineral sectors and integrate their primary products into global supply chains, now turn instead to Asian partners.