RUTHFULLY YOURS

Roosters of the Apocalypse: How the Junk Science of Global Warming is Bankrupting the Western World (New, Revised…Nov 25, 2013 by Rael Jean Isaac

I have long suspected that that common sense conservation has been coopted by the climate changelings whose entire agenda is an assault on industry and capitalism.
Many good writers have exposed this duplicity, but none as concisely as Rael Jean Isaac. In this book all the corruption, the hypocrisy and the faux science of the cult of global warming are laid bare. It is essential reading and should be distributed widely in the academies. rsk

The Road to Serfdom: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition by F. A. Hayek and Milton Friedman

The Road to Serfdom is an astonishing book. I had to remind myself that it was not written yesterday as it details the incompatibility of democracy and central government rule, as well as the ineluctable path from socialism to totalitarianism. planning. rsk

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin

This is absolutely the very best book I have read on the subject of history and the Middle East. The alliances and deceptions and betrayals of history’s major players in the Middle East- Turkey, France, Great Britain, Germans, Arabs, Zionists are brilliantly cataloged. I could not put this book down- all 600 pages are a must read…. rsk

Churchill: A LifeOct 15, 1992 by Martin Gilbert

The late, and greatly lamented historian Martin Gilbert wrote a three volume biography of Churchill, and this book packs much into one volume on the life of one of history’s greatest statesmen-who for all his warts with respect to Palestine and the White Papers, was the greatest leader of World War II and the last century.Elegantly written and full of detail…rsk

Garibaldi: Hero of Italian Unification by Christopher Hibbert and Ross King

I once heard the late Menachem Begin state that his favorite statesman was Garibaldi-a fact that intrigued me enough to read this biography of Italy’s hero. Giuseppe Garibaldi was praised for his military genius, his courage, and his charisma. Known as the “Hero of Two Worlds,” Garibaldi’s military prowess extended to the Americas, where he played a major role in the Brazilian struggle for independence. During his fight for Italian unification Garibaldi personally led an army of local untrained rebels to victory in Palermo, Naples, and Sicily. If this bio is a tad too lavish in praise, the history of the unification of Italy is amazing. rsk

Jews Against Themselves by Edward Alexander

Who could have imagined that in the heady and optimistic days following Israel’s victory in 1967, the “progressive” and radical Jewish anti-war groupies would turn their attention and venom towards the state of Israel?Israel became the target of libels, bias, calumny, and its unrelenting enemies and oppressors became victims. What were marginal organizations and individuals are now “mainstream” while those who proudly defend Israel citing its pluralist, advanced and civilized society are pushed to the margins. How this came about is described in meticulous detail by Edward Alexander in this essential and eloquent narrative.

Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide by Michael B. Oren

The President Against the Historian Michael Oren’s candid account of Obama’s Mideast policy has won him the right enemies.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB11486026120286184909004581077992565304976

Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917-1947Feb 24, 2015 by Bruce Hoffman

http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2015/08/02/david-isaac-a-review-of-anonymous-soldiers-by-bruce-hoffman/
By David Isaac a Review

Bruce Hoffman’s Anonymous Soldiers is a deftly written account of the Jewish revolt against the British in 1940s Palestine. Despite its scholarship—it draws heavily on recently declassified British documents—and its significant bulk, it is a page-turner that leaves the reader feeling sorry once the book is finished.

Unlike most accounts of the Jewish underground, this one tells the story from the British point of view, though without taking Britain’s side. It leaves the reader with no doubt that it was the Irgun, and to a lesser extent the much smaller Lehi, that drove the British from Palestine, and not, as the longtime mythology of Israel’s Laborites would have it, David Ben-Gurion’s skillful politicking.

The Four-Front War: From the Holocaust to the Promised Land Hardcover –by William R. Perl (Author), Menachem Begin (Foreword)

William Perl is more than a historian, more than a simple eyewitness. He stands among a few key figures before the war who organized and directed The Action who played a vital role in its highest levels of operation. Using the texts of secret official memoranda, most never before published, his personal diary of the period, as well as notes and dozens of taped interviews, he presents an astounding chronicle of this unknowing aspect of the war.

T’was the night before Christmas, when in the Senate and House
Not a legislator was stirring not even Ryan the mouse.

Incumbents were home but hardly slept
Knowing the anger for promises not kept

The budget, and energy, immigration and Obamacare,
The Constitution defiled and the terror scare.

Were enough to fill their stocking with coals
Especially when parsing the latest polls.

Then I suddenly heard such a clatter,
I ran to the window to see what was the matter.

I peered through the window and put on my glasses
It was a miniature sleigh with eight tiny jackasses.

With a spry old driver, so lively and chipper
I knew in a flash twas the ghost of the Gipper

“Debbie, Nancy, Durbin, and Sanders the jerk!”
He shouted with glee as he gave them their work.

“Schumer, Reid, Pingry, and Jackson Lee!”
Sweep the House and make it clean for the GOP!

With a smile and knowing and friendly look
He gave every pol Barry Goldwater’s book.

Another election may we all live to fight.
Merry Christmas to All and to all a good night!!

Eight years ago, the late James Schlesinger, who served as CIA Director, Secretary of Energy, and Secretary of Defense, denounced in a Wall Street Journal editorial one of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s most controversial intelligence assessments on Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as “stupid intelligence.”

In addition to calling this assessment stupid intelligence, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz referred to it in a December 6, 2007 Huffington Post op-ed as “one of the most dangerous, misguided and counterproductive intelligence assessments in history.”

A December 2 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was formally released on December 15, proved Schlesinger and Dershowitz were right.

The Iran intelligence assessment was a national intelligence estimate (NIE) which is supposed to be the U.S. Intelligence Community’s most authoritative analysis of a national security issue. Issued in November 2007, this NIE found that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

The IAEA’s new report found that Iran continued its nuclear weapons research at least until 2009.

A December 5, 2007 Wall Street Journal editorial cited an intelligence source who said the NIE’s main authors included three former State Department officials with previous reputations as “hyper-partisan anti-Bush officials:” Tom Fingar, formerly of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research; Vann Van Diepen, the National Intelligence Officer for WMD; and Kenneth Brill, the former U.S. Ambassador to the IAEA.

The Obama administration pursued secret communications with elements of Syria’s regime over several years in a failed attempt to limit violence and get President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power, according to U.S. and Arab officials.

Early on, the U.S. looked for cracks in the regime it could exploit to encourage a military coup, but found few.

The efforts reflect how President Barack Obama’s administration has grappled to understand and interact with an opaque Middle East dictatorship run for 45 years by the Assad family.

Unlike the secret White House back channel to Iran, however, the Syria effort never gained momentum and communication was limited. This account is based on interviews with more than two dozen people, including current and former U.S. officials, Arab officials and diplomats. Most of these contacts haven’t been previously reported.

U.S. officials said communications with the regime came in fits and starts and were focused on specific issues. At times, senior officials spoke directly to each other and at others, they sent messages through intermediaries such as Mr. Assad’s main allies Russia and Iran.

Mr. Assad tried at different times to reach out to the administration to say the U.S. should unite with him to fight terrorism.In 2011, as the regime began to crack down on protests and soldiers began to peel away from the army, U.S. intelligence officials identified officers from Mr. Assad’s minority Alawite sect who potentially could lead a regime change, according to former U.S. officials and current European officials.

As some congressional Democrats fume over the Obama administration’s reticence to confront Iran about its ballistic missile tests — nevermind introduce any real consequences — the Islamic Republic is defiantly expanding its missile programs.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said at a ceremony in northern Iran on Monday that Tehran is not scaling back its program or even keeping production at pre-deal levels.

“We have not halted designing, producing and testing our missiles, (on the contrary) we have even increased our production,” Dehqan said, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

The news agency said the defense minister ranked missile production and military upgrades at the top of the country’s agenda “to ensure protection against enemies.”

On Tuesday, the second-highest-ranking commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said that “anti-Iran resolutions” would have no bearing on the IRGC’s determination to increase its “defense and deterrent power.”

President Obama’s foreign policy failures—Iran, Syria, Russia—aren’t accidents. They’re rooted in flawed theories and misguided judgments.

Many thanks to Dennis Ross and Leon Aron for their comments on “Our Man in Moscow.” They’re greatly appreciated.

Dennis Ross is not only an insightful analyst of American foreign policy but a man of affairs with a depth of experience that few can match. In a career that has lasted some four decades, he has advised presidents of both parties, including President Obama. I’m therefore grateful to him for taking the time to respond to my essay, and delighted that he supports my conclusion: namely, that Obama’s approach to the Syrian civil war amounts to a major strategic blunder.

Ross, however, misleads in suggesting that I “should know better” than to explain that strategic blunder as the result of a “conspiracy.” Just to clear the air: I do know better, and I didn’t so explain it. Merriam-Webster defines “conspiracy” as “a secret plan made by two or more people to do something that is harmful or illegal.” Conspiracies, that is to say, involve both secrecy and collusion. Neither element is critically present in my argument.

President Obama’s final stretch in office — filled, as he promised, with “interesting stuff” — has become an extravaganza of “historic” foreign-policy deals, most of them distinguished for making common cause with despotic regimes that are less than friendly toward the United States:

— The embrace of Cuba.

— The Iran nuclear deal.

— The Paris climate agreement.

— And, enshrined just this past Friday as United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, a grand plan in which, under the United Nations umbrella, the U.S., Russia, Iran and sundry others will all come together to produce peace and democracy by June, 2017, in Syria.

On Friday. Obama congratulated himself for such feats, telling reporters at his end-of-year press conference: “we have shown what is possible when America leads.”

OK, but where is this going? What, precisely, does this brand of leadership make possible?

If we measure success by such UN standards as how many nations have agreed to these deals, Obama can congratulate himself (as he has been doing) on capping his tenure with a bonanza of foreign-policy achievements. Last December, scrapping decades of U.S. policy, he buddied up with Cuban dictator Raul Castro, which got him a historic handshake. This summer, via the long palaver of the P5+1 nuclear talks, he clinched the nuclear deal he had fervently sought with Iran; at U.S. behest this deal was adopted pronto — and unanimously — by the 15-member UN Security Council. On December 12, he got his long-pursued climate deal, the Paris Agreement passed unanimously by more than 190 states. And in the name of ending the havoc in Syria, last Friday he got a UN Security Council resolution which passed — you guessed it — unanimously, decreeing “free and fair elections” in Syria within the next 18 months.