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Iran: The Deep State Endures by Lawrence A. Franklin

Western governments need to accept the harsh reality that the Islamic Republic of Iran remains a revolutionary regime. The IRGC has responsibility over all ballistic missile programs and research and development. The West also needs to internalize that all decisions over ballistic missiles and associated delivery systems, the pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability, export of the revolution, aggressive support of the Shi’a ascendency in the Gulf and militant acts of inhumanity towards their own people are made by the deep state.

In short, the Iranian regime is much more Islamic than a Republic. The regime’s most reviled and inveterate enemies remain Israel and the United States.

Those Iranians opposed to the existing order have been broken physically and psychologically by a combination of regime cruelty and lack of support from the world’s democracies.

Despite the voluminous and biased reporting about the conclusions that should be drawn from Iran’s recent Majles (Consultative Assembly) elections, the results signify next to nothing.[1] Hundreds of candidates are disqualified from running by the Council of Guardians (COG) if they are judged to be opposed to the current Islamic regime, or on grounds of “moral turpitude” and other reasons that would be irrelevant in a true democracy. When given the limited choice from a thoroughly vetted set of pro-regime candidates, all of whom favor Islamic rule, the people will always vote for the more “liberal” of the alternatives. This is hardly surprising in a country where the existing martial, theocratic order remains highly unpopular.

Whatever the balance in the Majles between hardliners and those members who may be a bit more flexible on some economic and social issues, it matters little. There will always be a significant number of deputies who are former IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) men, and who will hector a President’s cabinet members and political allies about decisions which run afoul of “deep state” institutions.[2]

Christ at the Checkpoint 2016: Still Demonizing Israel Why this year’s Christian anti-Semite confab is the most disturbing yet. Susan Warner

Two years ago, in a news briefing, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) was among the first to sound the alarm that Evangelical Christians had launched an organized effort to abandon their long-held Biblical commitment to Israel: “Just when the annual ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ campaign will be hitting college campuses across North America this week, Palestinian Christians are hosting a five-day conference in Bethlehem which is expected to convey many of the same messages and aims of seeking to delegitimize Israel. What makes this “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference unusual is that it is largely an initiative of Christians from the Evangelical movement, whose ranks traditionally have held favorable views on Israel.”

Christ at the Checkpoint (CATC) is a biennial conference event held at Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem, Israel. In this, its fourth year, roughly 600 Christian pastors and leaders from a variety of nations will gather around the theme “The Gospel in the Face of Religious Extremism.”

Bethlehem Bible College is the host and sponsor. NGO Monitor said of the 2014 conference the CATC “seeks to advance the Palestinian nationalist agenda within Evangelical Christian churches, while simultaneously reviving theological anti-Semitic themes such as replacement theology.”

Replacement theology governs the Bethlehem College’s pro-Palestinian sympathies. It is a theology rooted in ancient Christianity. It falsely affirms that Christianity has replaced Judaism and Israel in God’s economy. The Christian Church is considered the “New Israel” or “the Israel of God.” For two thousand years, this theological stance has commonly misconstrued Bible narratives to defame Israel and the Jews.

16-Year-Old Girl Converts to Islam, Plots to Bomb Jewish School Daniel Greenfield

The Jihad Machine grinds on across the West. Muslim men use younger European girls in terror plots.

Danish prosecutors say a 16-year-old girl who was arrested in January was planning bomb attacks against a Jewish school in Copenhagen and another school in Denmark.

Prosecutors presented the preliminary charges against her and a 24-year-old man suspected of being her accomplice in a court hearing Tuesday in Holbaek, northwest of the Danish capital.

The AP report carefully avoids the I word and the M word. Just an inexplicable plot against a Jewish school by a 16-year-old for no apparent reason. Danish news however uses the M word.

The 15-year-old girl’s mother was strongly opposed that the daughter had converted.

The teenage girl had converted to Islam and the attack was being planned with a 24-year old Jihadist who had fought in Syria. The adult Jihadist had been in prison and is an Islamist, but the usual Islamic sources are claiming he’s just a “confused young man”. Because this is some sort of Monty Python skit.

The 24-year-old former Syria fighter among other things obtained bomb manuals. According to the prosecutor, the accused planned to commit terror against Sydskolen in Fårevejle and the Jewish private school Caroline School in Copenhagen.

Jewish parents of children Caroline School have previously expressed concern for their children’s safety in connection with the terrorist attack on the synagogue in Copenhagen last year.

Remembering the Brave By Eileen F. Toplansky

I am disgusted by constantly seeing pictures of the San Bernardino murderers continually splashed across newspapers and on the internet. They represent the worst of humankind and deserve no visual recognition. They are the dregs of mankind and deserving of nothing but our revulsion and determination to stop their kind from promoting the murderous rampage seen everywhere in the world.

They stand in stark contrast to a woman who would be 53 years old today had she not been gunned down by the same perverted and murderous motives as the jihadist terrorists. Her name is Neerja Bhanot and here is her picture.

Neerja Bhanot

Bhanot was the senior flight purser on Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Mumbai to the United States when it was hijacked by armed men on September 5, 1986 at the Karachi airport in Pakistan. There were 361 passengers and 19 crew members. Because of her quick thinking, Bhanot alerted the cockpit crew who escaped from an overhead hatch in the cockpit so that the aircraft could not be forcibly flown. The three-member American pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer were following protocol procedures.

The Palestinian hijackers were part of the terrorist Abu Nidal Organization that was backed by Libya. Conflicting reports indicate that the terrorists “were planning to use the hijacked plane to pick up Palestinian prisoners in both Cyprus and Israel. However, in 2006, surviving hostage Michael Thexton published a book in which he claimed he had heard the hijackers intended to crash the plane into a target in Israel (in the manner of 9/11).

Al-Shabaab’s Terror Attacks Escalate The Islamist group in recent years has stepped up its assaults in its native Somalia and neighboring Kenya.

NAIROBI, Kenya—The scope of U.S. airstrikes that destroyed an al-Shabaab training camp underscores Washington’s mounting concerns over the resilience of a jihadist group increasingly attacking the Somali government and neighboring states.

The Pentagon said the warplanes and drones used in Saturday’s airstrike killed more than 150 al-Shabaab fighters gathered at a training base ahead of a planned attack against U.S. and African Union forces inside Somalia. It was a surprisingly large-scale attack for the U.S. military in Somalia, which has previously focused on targeted strikes against specific leaders of the Islamist group—most commonly with unmanned drones.

North Korea Claims Advancements in Nuclear Warheads Pyongyang says it has successfully made nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles By Alastair Gale

SEOUL—North Korea said it has successfully made nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles, a claim which, if true, would represent a clear threat to the U.S.

Military officials and analysts outside North Korea have debated for years the isolated nation’s ability to make nuclear explosives small enough to mount on missiles. The opacity of its nuclear program makes it difficult to determine progress in its stated objective.

In a report from Pyongyang’s state news agency on Wednesday, North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un was briefed by scientists about advances in nuclear missile technology.

“The nuclear warheads have been standardized to be fit for ballistic missiles by miniaturizing them, he noted, adding this can be called true nuclear deterrent,” the Korean Central News Agency paraphrased Mr. Kim as saying.

The report also said the warheads were able to generate a thermonuclear reaction, making a more powerful form of explosion if a hydrogen-based weapon is used. North Korea said its latest nuclear bomb on Jan. 6 was a hydrogen-based explosive, although outside experts said the relatively small size of the explosion made it unlikely that it was caused by a typical hydrogen bomb.

Photos released by North Korea’s state media showed Mr. Kim talking with officials while standing close to a large metal sphere. Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California, said it was possible the device was a nuclear explosive, either a stand-alone fusion bomb or a trigger for a more powerful thermonuclear device. CONTINUE AT SITE

Iran Continues Ballistic-Missiles Tests Move extends launches this week following vows by officials to press ahead with program By Asa Fitch

DUBAI—Iran test fired two types of medium-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, extending a barrage of tests this week following vows by officials to press ahead with its missile program despite U.S. pressure to curtail it.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired off “Qadr-H” and “Qadr-F” missiles from mountainous sites in northern Iran, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. The missiles traveled 870 miles to the country’s sparsely populated southeastern coast, it said.

The tests followed the previous day’s tests of several ballistic missiles from silos in central Iran, the country’s first since the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 11 Iranian entities in January over alleged links to the missile program.

A senior U.S. official said on Tuesday that while the tests were “inconsistent” with a United Nations Security Council Resolution calling on Iran not to pursue missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads, they didn’t constitute a violation of last year’s historic nuclear deal.

The U.S. sees Iranian missiles as a threat to Israel, its key Middle Eastern ally, and to Arab allies in the Persian Gulf. There are also substantial U.S. military assets in the region, including a large naval base in Bahrain.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Tuesday that most of Iran’s arsenal of missiles was capable of reaching Israel, according to Tasnim. Iranian enemies in the region “should be in panic about the roar of the IRGC missiles,” he said. CONTINUE AT SITE

WHY A MUSLIM WOMAN BEHEADED A CHILD IN MOSCOW – ON THE GLAZOV GANG

This special edition of The Glazov Gang was joined by Robert Spencer, the Director of JihadWatch.org and the author of the new book The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS.

Robert discussed Why a Muslim Woman Beheaded a Child in Moscow, focusing on how Gulchekhra Bobokulova has insisted that Allah made her do it. Did he?

Don’t miss it!

The Irish election: More trouble for Israel in the Emerald Isle Herb Keinon

Even before last week’s election, the Irish government was considered among the most hostile in Europe to Israel, second only to Sweden.

It may take weeks to sort out the recent Irish election and crown a new government in Dublin, but one thing is already certain: Israel’s position in the Emerald Isle is about to go from bad to worse.

Though it is not clear whether the ruling Fine Gael will form a coalition together with its bitter political rival Fianna Fail, or whether Fine Gael will form a minority government, it is clear that pro-Israel candidates were roundly defeated across the board, while pro-Palestinian candidates enjoyed a good day Friday at the polls.

For instance, Fine Gael’s Alan Shatter, the sole Jewish MP who served from 2011 to 2014 as both justice and defense minister, and who has been the victim of anti-Semitic swipes for his willingness to speak up for Israel, was defeated.

As was Joanna Tuffy, a Labor Party parliamentarian who headed the small Irish-Israel parliamentary friendship caucus. In fact it is not clear whether there will even be such a group in the next parliament, as the three or four members of this group were either voted out or retired.

On the other hand, new MP Gino Kenny, from the Anti-Austerity Alliance, celebrated his election victory on Saturday by waving a Palestinian flag. (Imagine the reaction were a congressman from Oklahoma to celebrate his victory on election night by waving not the US flag, but rather the blue and white banner of Israel.) Another candidate who won, Independent John Halligan, launched his candidacy in January in the presence of Palestinian Authority Ambassador Ahmad Abdelrazek.

Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech: 70 Years on, America Faces the Same Task By Arthur L. Herman

Seventy years ago this past weekend an elderly, rotund man stepped up to a podium in Fulton, Mo., and delivered one of the great speeches of the 20th century — and arguably the single most relevant speech for our own time.

The man was Winston Churchill, and the speech he gave on March 5, 1946, has been known ever since as the Iron Curtain speech, both because it coined a phrase — “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent’’ — to describe the inexorable advance of Josef Stalin’s Communist empire in the aftermath of World War II, and because Churchill had summed up the ideological, as well as the geopolitical, map of the Cold War world for the next 45 years.

Certainly it was a prescient moment. In March 1946 many in the United States, including in the Truman administration, still believed the cooperation with the Soviet Union that had won World War II would blossom into permanent friendship.

Churchill knew better. Even before the Berlin blockade and Communist coups in Czechoslovakia and Hungary finally awoke the apathetic and the gullible to Stalin’s true designs, Churchill saw that the struggle between freedom and tyranny would continue after the fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan — because that struggle is perpetual and unending.