http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304713704579095501041486012.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop As diplomatic humiliations go, Hassan Rouhani’s refusal to accept President Obama’s offer of an informal “encounter” and historic photo-op at Tuesday’s meeting of the U.N. General Assembly may not be the most consequential. But it is among the most telling. This isn’t the first time an Iranian president has left his U.S. counterpart cooling […]
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-real-time-evolution-of-soft-despotism Today, many who consider themselves “visionaries” are sounding the alarm about the size and scope of government. From Obamacare to the Right to Bear Arms they decry government over-reach and the bureaucratization of our government. But those who truly understand the agenda of the Progressive Movement in the United States have been sounding this […]
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/13867#.UkGxgD8crYh
There is a devastating response that Israel must employ regardless of the howls of rage that will undoubtedly emanate from the Obama administration and the ever hypocritical international corridors of power.
In January, 2005, I wrote a chapter in the first volume of my trilogy, “Politicide: The Attempted Murder of the Jewish State”. It was titled, “The ultimate answer to Arab terror.”
I had hoped that my suggestion in that chapter would have borne fruit, but it was not to be. Let me suggest, again, what I had posited almost nine long years ago – a period in which hundreds more Jews have perished in Judea and Samaria and some 10,000 Jewish souls in Gaza were violently deported from their homes and farms by Israeli leaders who believed that their actions would bring, “peace in our time.” And oh, how the angels in heaven must have wept at such foolishness.
A direct and pure Zionist response to Arab and Muslim terror against Israelis must be the building or rebuilding of Jewish villages throughout Judea, Samaria, all of Jerusalem, and the Golan in direct response to Arab butchery and barbarism.
And each new village should be named in eternal memory of the Jewish victim who fell at the hands of Arab hate and evil.
I had pointed out that the Greek playwright of the 5th century BCE, Euripides, once penned the words “Those whom the gods wish to destroy, first they make mad.” I then went on to add that, “today, some 2,500 years later, an Israeli government led by a once great military hero is responding to relentless acts of Arab terror and aggression in a way that is incoherent, indecisive, and frankly suicidal.” I was, of course, referring to then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The clear-eyed Palestinian journalist Khaled abu Toameh points out that, if the Palestinian Authority wants the world to take it seriously as a ‘partner for peace’ with Israel, it is going a mighty strange way about showing it.
In separate incidents in the past few days two Israeli soldiers were murdered in the ‘West Bank’– one of them having been lured there from Tel Aviv to his death – with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claiming responsibility.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade is the armed wing of Fatah. Fatah is the party of Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, who does not distance himself from such atrocities committed by his own armed wing.
The PA has also been involved in ‘a massive campaign of incitement’ against Israel, with some officials calling for an escalation of ‘popular resistance’ and with others disseminating inflammatory lies about Israeli behaviour – creating the kind of toxic atmosphere which fuels attacks such as the killing of the two Israeli soldiers.
The Palestinian Authority is deemed by Britain, the US and the EU to be a ‘moderate’ body with which Israel must negotiate an agreement for a Palestinian state.
How can the PA possibly be moderate when it openly and routinely supports murder and promotes incitement to hatred and violence against Israel?
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/359434/senate-gop-gamesmanship-obamacare-defunding-not-honorable-andrew-c-mccarthy On Sunday evening, we discussed the debate on defunding Obamacare – specifically, whether Senate Republicans were being disingenuous in their claim to support defunding. While arguing that Republicans were engaged in sleight-of-hand, I conceded that the GOP’s calculation that avoiding a government shutdown outweighs defunding Obamacare is not “frivolous.” Ramesh proceeded to inflate this concession, […]
On September 21, 2013 more than a dozen members of al-Shabab, a terrorist organization closely associated with al-Qaeda launched a horrific terror attack on a mall in Kenya. The attack on civilians left dozens dead and dozens injured. Initial reports indicated that Americans and Europeans were among the terrorists.
As soon as the information about some of the terrorists being “American” was broadcast, reporters began discussing how America’s malls and other such facilities in the U.S. might be vulnerable to terrorist attacks and what could be done to protect them.
Incredibly, not one discussion ever focused on the issue of America’s borders or immigration laws that could be America’s first line of defense and last line of defense against the entry and embedding of international terrorists if our borders were actually made secure, including the process by which visas are issued and the inspections process conducted by CBP inspectors are carried out.
These are issues that are not being discussed in the media or in Congress, even as the number of countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program, which strips a major layer of America’s security away, has recently been increased to 37.
On July 12, 2011 Californians for Population Stabilization posted my commentary which provides an analysis of how dangerous the Visa Waiver Program is, it was entitled:
“Visa Waiver Program Endangers our Safety and Security”
Perhaps the news organizations that have been cheering for “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” made a conscious decision to ignore the national security implications of failures to address border security and the lack of integrity to the visa process that were so clearly articulated in the preface of the “9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel:”
“It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country. Yet prior to September 11, while there were efforts to enhance border security, no agency of the U.S. government thought of border security as a tool in the counterterrorism arsenal. Indeed, even after 19 hijackers demonstrated the relative ease of obtaining a U.S. visa and gaining admission into the United States, border security still is not considered a cornerstone of national security policy. We believe, for reasons we discuss in the following pages, that it must be made one.”
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3990/danger-in-our-midst
Is it because there are verses in the Qu’ran that can be, and have been, used to justify violence against non-Muslims? If this is the situation, then it is time for us to lift our heads out of the sand, and understand that the enemy is within.
The past week has been bloodier than usual in the Muslim world. Three major attacks in different parts of the world — Iraq, Pakistan and Kenya — have one thing in common: they were pre-meditated terror attacks on civilians executed in a wanton manner as part of an armed jihad.
On the attack in Kenya at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, Kenya’s President Uhunu Kenyatta made a clear statement: “We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get to them and we shall punish them for this heinous crime. We have overcome terrorist attacks before. We will defeat them again. They want to cause fear and despondency in our country, but we will not be cowed.” Then, referring to Somalia’s al-Shabab terrorists who claimed responsibility for the assault, he added, “Terrorism is a philosophy of cowards.”
For those of us sitting in North America in the wake of such carnage, Kenyatta’s words resonate well: he addressed the problem head-on. We look for support to the leader of the free world, the U.S., because the OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation] has let us down by giving priority to their own agenda on Islamophobia in the West and remaining silent when Muslims indulge in wanton terrorism — in fact, they object to use of the word “terrorist” attached to Muslims. It seems, however, that the free world has a soft stance on terrorism. The only bold statement made a while ago was, “we have destroyed Al-Qaeda.” Then why is the U.S. continuing to arm it in Syria?
Former Clinton advisor Dick Morris once described Hillary Clinton’s trademark cackle , which erupts every time she dodges media sniper fire, as “loud, inappropriate, and mirthless. . .” That aptly described her predictable response when asked about Somali pirates in April 2009. This you tube has been scrubbed by many sources, but here it is taped while Somali pirates held Americans hostage:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/197193.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii_c3B5AasI
Hillary Clinton appears to think American Hostages and pirates seizing ships are a laughing matter. She did stop chuckling in April 2009 when she announced a new initiative to deal with Somali piracy.
“What we will do is first send an envoy to attend the international Somali peacekeeping and development meeting scheduled in Brussels. The solution to Somali piracy includes improved Somali capacity to police their own territory. Our envoy will work with other partners to help the Somalis assist us in cracking down on pirate bases and in decreasing incentives for young Somali men to engage in piracy.”
As Robert Spencer warned:”…Somali pirate captors are Islamic Jihadists, dedicated to the same goals as Osama bin Laden and other Jihadists around the world…..Accordingly, counterterror analysts and the mainstream media would do well to widen their narrow focus upon maritime piracy, and consider the role that this piracy is playing in the larger Jihadist initiative.”
That year there were 134 episodes of piracy. In 2011 Somali pirates killed four Americans on a yacht. Madame Secretary of State did “deplore’ it….no laughing matter. Piracy decreased in subsequent years until 2013 due to more muscular responses by international navies. However, to date 97 hostages remain in kindly Somali day care.
But what of the refugees from Somalia that are in this country?
There are millions of African refugees in America – decent, hard working people who escaped the chaos and brutality of failed states. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, under the guidelines of the Refugee Act of 1980, must report hard numbers to Congress each year. Furthermore, the Congressional Black Caucus has been active for years in promoting entry for more African refugees. Fair enough, but here is where it gets dicey.
Somali Americans did not assimilate and have grown increasingly militant in cities where they have a significant presence. And they are of concern to law-enforcement agencies. They continually escalate their demands for Sharia compliant footbaths in schools, airports and malls, culminating with the establishment of the controversial Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center – and the smaller but equally influential Islamic Al Dahwa Center of St. Paul, from which dozens of young Somali men have “disappeared” without a trace, and authorities believe they have joined terrorist groups in Somalia. And, of course the imams of the mosques deny any involvement with terrorism. So do all the hijab mothers.
This gives us all something to think about in restructuring immigration laws. What happened in a Nairobi mall can happen in the American heartland.
http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/09/23/a-black-south-african-proves-beyond-doubt-that-israel-is-not-an-apartheid-state/?print=1 Normally when we feature a new Prager University video at PJ Lifestyle we get an introductory blurb from either the presenter or one of our friends over there in what Hugh Hewitt affectionately calls “the Prager salt mines.” But for some of these I’m going to start introducing them myself when it’s a subject […]
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=5781 Ahead of his participation in the U.N. General Assembly this week, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani has launched what many have been calling a “charm offensive.” Though this term is inherently cynical, the reporters and pundits using it to describe Rouhani’s recent overtures to the United States — by way, among other things, of an […]
