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RACHEL EHRENFELD: NEEDED US CYBER-DEFENSE POLICY

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

Two years have passed since the Obama administration was tasked by Congress to develop cyber countermeasure policies. But in response to Sen. Joe McCain (R-AZ) question “Is it correct that these are policy-decision that have not been made?” U.S. Cyber Command Commander Adm. Michael S. Rogers responded: “The way I would describe it is, we clearly still are focused more on” an “event-by-event” approach to cyber incidents,”

If one follows the Obama administration has been dragging its feet when it comes to cyber threats that increasingly threaten the U.S. defense capabilities and the country’s economy, it is not difficult to see that even more than other national security related matters, the administration has adopted a slow-knee-jerk policy.

Rogers’ testimony today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, as well as his responses to questions from the members, revealed that the U.S. military cyber defense, deterrence, and offense capabilities are also lacking, as is the staffing of Cybercommand. He urged to “accelerate debate on how to balance security and privacy in the ever-changing digital realm.” Otherwise,Rogers warned, “an enemy could change and manipulate data — rather than enter a computer system and steal — that action would be a threat to national security.

Rogers repeated previous warnings that Russia’s cyber capabilities presented the biggest threat to the U.S. China is not far behind.

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Beware of The Black Flag Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin*Review of Nidra Poller’s The Black Flag of Jihad Stalks La République

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

Reporting from Brussels on March 18, after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, the Belgian ISIS operative who participated in the November 13 attacks in Paris, the Associated Press commented:
“His capture brought instant relief to police and ordinary people in France and Belgium who had been looking over their shoulder for Abdeslam since Nov. 13 when Islamic extremist attackers fanned out across the French capital and killed 130 people at a rock concert, the national stadium and cafes. It was France’s deadliest attack in decades.”
On March 22, ISIS attacked Brussels.

Had people read Nidra Poller’s powerful book The Black Flag Stalks La République, they would have known better and could have been less surprised and possibly better prepared for ISIS’s terror attacks.
Poller skillfully and painstakingly details how the Islamic State has targeted France and Belgium. None of this would have happened, she argues, had these countries honestly and forthrightly confronted the rapidly escalating Islamic anti-Semitism. But both Belgium and France have mostly ignored Islamic anti-Semitism – often dressed as anti-Israel attacks – since the 1960s and 70s, by accommodating PLO terrorists.
Poller’s The Black Flag traces the interlocking links of Islamic terrorism, how the accommodation and often support of Palestinian terrorists prepared the ground for today’s Islamic State. Islamic aggression breeds terrorism. The names of the Islamist terror groups, with or without territorial aspirations changes – Palestinian, Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, Hezbollah and, of course, the Mother of all terrorist states – the Islamic Republic of Iran, but their modus operandi of extreme violence remains the same. They feed off each other creating shocking, tragic and sensational headlines after suicide bombings, stabbing and more, targeting Europeans cities like in a Russian Roulette.These punk jihadis, as Poller aptly calls them, aim to kill us en masse.
Poller, the consummate analyst, author, and translator of the philosophical works of Emmanuel Levinas has zeroed in on the dynamics of Islamic terrorism – paranoia with its emblematic stalking. If you have ever wondered why we spend so much money on ‘surveillance’ for counterterrorism, this is because it is our political “counter-transference” to their psychosis
The jihadis make a psychological imprint of their accusatory eye projected into us – quite literally and concretely through assassinations, knife intifadas, crucifixions, severing heads, bombing, etc. Hence, we have had to develop “the eye in the sky” among other tactical tools in our counterterrorism toolbox to foil the terrorists.
The Belgians, the French and the rest of Europe should have realized that jihadis have to be monitored at all times. Paranoia arises out of the culture in which there is no sense of individual self – only the dysfunctional group dominates in a brutal, violent manner.

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DOUGLAS MURRAY: FACING UP TO THE FANATICS

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

Six years ago Maajid Nawaz and Ayaan Hirsi Ali were on opposite sides of a debate in New York titled “Islam is a religion of peace.” I was on Ayaan’s side in arguing “not so much” and the audience ended up by triumphantly agreeing with us. Not least among the debate’s memorable aspects was that it was conducted so freely. For once we dived straight into all the tricky stuff — Muhammad’s personal life, the Koran, and so on. Three years later Ayaan and Maajid discussed the same matter on another stage in America and found some common cause. Six years later they were sitting here in London for a one-on-one discussion as colleagues in the same fight against the fanatics.

The audience included Islamic clerics, making the evening’s final appeal from Ayaan all the more pertinent. We don’t study Nazism without studying the teachings, writings and beliefs of Hitler, she pointed out. We don’t teach our children about Communism without reference to the writings of Karl Marx. Likewise, she stressed, you cannot understand Islam or Islamism without looking at the teachings, behaviour and writings of Muhammad. Including the bad bits. Admittedly the venue was once again very well guarded, but nobody stood up and started screaming. Here was an actual discussion. There are problems in the tradition and rather than skirt around them or pretend they are not there, it is better for everyone — Muslims and non-Muslims — to face up to them.

Afterwards I found myself reflecting on how people’s minds change. It never does happen just there and then, with someone saying, “Yes — I see, I was quite wrong and you’ve changed my mind.” But over time the bits of your own argument that have become unsupportable simply crumble away, usually without you even acknowledging it. But one thing of which I am quite certain is that in order to stand any chance of change or progress on the subject of Islam, the facts and opinions have to be confronted frankly. Our decent desire to be polite, combined with our indecent concessions to fear, make the possibility of reform less likely. But for one night at least one saw the fruits of progress in action.

***There wasn’t so much progress the week before when I took part in an Intelligence Squared debate on taking action against IS alongside General John Allen and against Ken Livingstone and Rula Jebreal. Aside from talking over her opponents incessantly, the strangest thing about Ms Jebreal was that she began her case by complaining about having to listen to “two white men” on our side. She seemed to have fewer problems with the other person on her own side, who was not just white and a man, but also — crime of all crimes today — old. I hope that in my lifetime the use of someone’s skin pigmentation will become unacceptable as a means of attack. But for now it appears to remain fine so long as it is in one direction. It leads me to wonder if there are things I would not say against an opponent. I think so. For instance Ms Jebreal is married to an American multi-millionaire, a fact some people might suggest undermines her strident pose as a poor suffering Palestinian. But — as when debating left-wing heirs and heiresses far richer than I shall ever be — I always think this too personal a point to make.

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Did the Associated Press Cooperate with the Nazis? By Rick Moran

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

A paper published Wednesday in the journal Studies in Contemporary History alleges that the Associated Press had a close relationship with the Nazi propaganda office in the 1930s. Historian Harriet Scharnberg writes that the AP was able to continue operating in Germany long after most other media outlets had been booted out.

USA Today:

The AP agreed to abide by the Nazi “editor’s law,” forbidding any publication “calculated to weaken the strength of the Reich abroad or at home,” according to The Guardian, which first reported on the research Wednesday. The news agency also hired reporters who worked in the Nazi party’s propaganda division, including photographer Franz Roth, who was in the propaganda unit of the SS and whose photos were approved by Hitler himself.

Scharnberg also contends the AP allowed the use of its photographs in antisemitic propaganda, including the publications “The Sub-Human” and “The Jews in the USA.”

By working with the Nazis, the AP helped that totalitarian regime “portray a war of extermination as a conventional war,” the historian said in the interview with The Guardian. For example, Roth’s photos following the 1941 Nazi invasion of Lviv in western Ukraine focused on the atrocities carried out by Soviet troops before the arrival of the Nazis, and ignored the violence of the German forces against the Jewish residents.

“The pictures played their part in disguising the true character of the war led by the Germans,” Scharnberg said. “Which events were made visible and which remained invisible in AP’s supply of pictures followed German interests and the German narrative of the war.”

The Associated Press said in a statement that Scharnberg’s research “describes both individuals and their activities before and during the war that were unknown to AP.” The news agency says it is conducting a review “to further our understanding of the period.”

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Will ISIS Drive U.S. Forces Out of Sinai? By Bridget Johnson

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

A defense official confirmed today that high-level discussions are under way to decide whether U.S. forces will be pulled out of the Sinai peninsula because of the danger posed by ISIS.

About 700 troops are currently part of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) mission in the region established by the 1979 peace deal.

Joint Staff Vice Director for Operations Rear Adm. Andrew Lewis told reporters at the Pentagon today that reports stating two outposts outside the northern camp in the Sinai had been closed were incorrect.

“Operationally, we have people there that are committed to the mission. And my focus is making sure that they have the force protection measures in place and we have increased the force protection measures in MFO Sinai, to ensure their maximum safety,” Lewis said.

The admiral said there are no plans in place, but “those discussions are happening…whether to pull them out or not” within the U.S. government and the governments of Israel and Egypt. “And on those discussions are happening at the very highest levels,” he added.

ISIS claimed responsibility for taking down a Russian airliner over the desert on Halloween, and later published in Dabiq magazine photos of what ISIS says was the bomb — constructed out of a soda can.

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Boko Haram to ISIS: We’ve Got Your Backs By Bridget Johnson

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

Boko Haram reinforced their year-ago pledge of allegiance to ISIS, urging self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to have “steadfastness, steadfastness, and patience, patience” to achieve victory.

The video opens with pickups driving through the brush carrying masked jihadists wielding an ISIS flag. Front license plates were also replaced with ISIS flags.

A few more camera angles are used of the jihadists than the usual single, straight-on shot frequently seen in Boko Haram statements. The terrorist in the center juggles a couple pieces of paper as he reads the statement.

“The enemies of Allah the Almighty hold conferences and meetings to come up with a solution for the hole into which they fell, thinking that they can rescue their proxies and allies from the assault of the soldiers of the Caliphate,” the speaker says.

“They gave statements and threatened on television screen that they will defeat the monotheists who proved, by the grace of Allah the Almighty, the extent of their firmness and the harm they inflicted upon their enemies and the losses in terms of lives, wealth, and weapons, whether in Nigeria, the Niger border, Cameroon, or Chad,” he continued.

“Those people were shocked by what they saw, and they were surprised by the steadfastness of the monotheists in front of their Crusader campaigns, despite their alliance and cooperation with their henchmen from among the apostates and the Rafidhi [Shi’ite] militias. The monotheists have realized that victory is from Allah.”

“The march,” they vowed, will continue until jihadists “purify the land from the filth and defilement of the polytheists.”

“As usual, the disbelievers and apostates have for ages, when they feel hopeless to stop the spread of the truth, rush to scheme and sow rumors and lies against the mujahideen,” the speaker lamented.

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A School Board President Who Homeschools? How Dare You! By K. Daniel Glover

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

Bonnie Henthorn and her husband spent their formative years in Tyler County public schools. Between them, their two children spent at least 15 years in that school system. The family has paid taxes that support the schools for decades.

With deep roots and a historical perspective like that, Henthorn is an ideal choice for president of the Tyler County school board, a role she has filled since 2014. But none of that matters now because in January she committed the unpardonable sin of public education: She started homeschooling.

Henthorn announced the family decision at the Jan. 4 school board meeting, citing two reasons that had nothing to do with Tyler County schools. “One is that I want them to have a more Christian-based education,” she said. “… Number two is I no longer feel that the state leadership has the best interest of the students at heart.”

That very personal decision, designed to benefit Henthorn’s sophomore son and seventh-grade daughter, quickly became the topic of a very hostile public debate.

At the meeting, board member Linda Hoover peppered Henthorn with questions. She implied that Henthorn couldn’t lead an education system if her children weren’t part of it and that pulling them from it is “a slap in the teachers’ faces.” Another board member, Jimmy Wyatt, called it a “questionable decision” that might show a lack of faith in the county school system.
Bonnie Henthorn (Twitter) Bonnie Henthorn (Twitter)

The outrage escalated over the next few weeks. A Tyler County native created a Facebook group and a Change.org petition demanding Henthorn’s resignation. The Charleston Gazette-Mail published an editorial decrying the “sad mess” in Tyler County and calling Henthorn “unsuited for public school leadership.”

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Rainbow Ray and the Navy’s highest priority By Russ Vaughn

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

Not long ago, I jokingly pointed out that Obama’s secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, who in his holy quest to give his liege lord, Barack, the rainbow-hued, unicorn-mounted force the narcissist-in-chief so desires, has, in naval jargon, run aground.

The problem according to Mabus and his chief enlisted naval adviser is that, try as they might, their naval social justice retitling team can’t seem to come up with a satisfactory gender-neutral replacement for the Navy’s traditional title for a clerk, which, as it has been since the birth of the United States Navy, is yeoman. I kid you not, folks: with all the problems our military faces in this very dangerous world, our secretary of the Navy has his top chief petty officer, Master Chief of the Navy Michael D. Stevens, busy changing the titles of the countless combat specialty ratings in that force, which includes the United States Marine Corps. This quixotic quest is necessitated by the relentless insistence of the Obama administration that women be allowed to serve in all combat units and positions regardless of continuing demonstrations that this is a clearly foolish program with coming deadly consequences.

While my recent piece drew many humorous suggestions for a replacement title for yeoman, one commenter soberly noted that this is no laughing matter when it comes to the Navy’s real budget needs. Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have taken an accounting axe to our military forces, demanding drastic reductions everywhere, across every fleet and every force. In the Navy, that means not only fewer ships, but also fewer sailors to man and support those ships remaining. Because of Obama’s budgets, naval aviators aren’t allowed to fly sufficient training missions to retain their flying proficiency. Even special naval helicopter units that fly SEAL missions are being shut down, with their mission being shifted onto the Army. Point is, money’s tight, and the budget constraints are affecting mission training and performance.

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Hard War By Lt. Col. Kent S Ralston USMC (Ret.)

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

After World War II, the U.S. abandoned the concepts of total and hard war and adopted a more politically correct view of war.

Western civilization is immolating itself on the sword of political correctness. Our leaders fail to recognize the existential threat that we now face and are unwilling to take the decisive actions necessary to combat the threat of radical jihadist Islamists.

Leadership on both sides of the political spectrum refuse to identify how we might counter this threat. This is not necessarily a new type of threat that we have not experienced before. However, what is new is our refusal to properly utilize the tools at our disposal to combat this threat.

We often hear our leadership say that it is against our values as Americans to use some of these ruthless but effective tools. Gen. George S. Patton once said, “War is cruel, ruthless and brutal and it takes a cruel, ruthless and brutal man to fight it!” It was the implementation of this approach that ultimately secured victory in 1945.

Unfortunately, our nation does not presently possess Patton’s “cruel, ruthless and brutal man” in any senior leadership position in our government or military. Politicians and generals alike often state that it is against our long-held American values to target civilians or torture prisoners. However, our country’s history is replete with examples of our leadership doing what is necessary to win. We can only logically extrapolate that those who would refuse to fight hard war would be willing to sacrifice our lives and freedom on the altar of the absurd fallacies of American values crowd.

During the Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington hanged spies and executed deserters. During the Mexican-American War, Gen. Winfield Scott ordered the execution of fifty members of the St. Patrick’s Battalion in 1847. Many members of this unit were determined to be deserters from the U.S. Army who joined forces with the Mexican army under Santa Ana. Both Union and Confederate generals during the Civil War executed prisoners in retaliation for executions by their counterparts. Gen. William Sherman during his famous march from Atlanta to the sea issued General Order V which stated,

Army Corps commanders alone are entrusted with the power to destroy mills, houses, cotton gins, etc., and for them this general principle is laid down: in districts in neighborhoods where the Army is unmolested no destruction of such property should be permitted; but should guerillas or bushwhackers molest our march, or should the inhabitants burn bridges, obstruct roads, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then army commanders should order and enforce a devastation more or less relentless according to the measure of such hostility.

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The Mainstream Media Spreads Another False ‘Islamophobia’ Story by Raheem Kassam and Liam Deacon

Posted By on April 7th, 2016

Originally published under the title “Molenbeek Hit And Run: How The Mainstream Media Spread Another False ‘Islamophobia’ Story.”

The journalists and publications which implied the hit and run in Molenbeek borough of Brussels this weekend was a ‘far right’ anti Islam attack had no evidence to suggest that it was as they reported, but they knew what story they wanted to write.

That’s why most hesitantly wrote “during” a “far right demonstration” instead of bluntly labelling the driver a “far right activist” as did the Daily Mail, the first publication to report on the story.

Instead of acknowledging the categorical error, or clearly reporting the truth as it emerged, however, the Mail quietly edited their original article, burying the factual change three quarters of the way down the page, and failing to issue a correction or clarification.

Its headline shifted from “Muslim Women Is Mown Down by Grinning Far-Right Activist” to “by Grinning Driver” (see above) and the critical new details only appeared in the sixth paragraph:

Police later announced that they had arrested two men, believed to have been the car’s driver and passenger, who have been named as Redouane B. and Mohamed B – both of whom are thought to be residents of Molenbeek.

Numerous other articles in the Independent, Express, New York Post, and others have yet to be amended or followed up with the truth. Some, like Evening Standard, only published their misleading story this morning, after all the facts had become widely available.

Journalists who bothered to check with sources in Brussels were able to ascertain the man was not “far right,” but a local Muslim teenager, a fact reported two days ago by those such as Channel 4’s Paraic O’Brien.