FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Trump’s High-Wire Act of Reestablishing Deterrence without War By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/trump-foreign-policy-challenge-deterrence-without-war/

Trump’s opponents at home and abroad would love to see him get the U.S. into a messy intervention right before the election.

Donald Trump inherited a superficially stable world from Barack Obama that, in fact, was quite volatile. There had been no tense standoffs with North Korea, but also apparent intercontinental ballistic missiles with possible nuclear warheads now pointed at the United States. Obama more or less punted on North Korea, by declaring it a problem — and hoping that Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear testing did not get too out of hand before 2017.

Then there was the “Iran deal.” It was an appeasing agreement that almost surely guaranteed that Iran would soon have nuclear weapons, along with a revived economy liberated from sanctions and empowered with American cash. Iran’s terrorist surrogates were the greatest beneficiaries of U.S. naïveté. At best, Obama assumed that when Iran went nuclear, it would be on someone else’s presidential watch and therefore not his fault. At worst, Obama, in delusional fashion, believed that empowering Iran would balance Sunni states and bring justice to historically oppressed Shiite and Persian minorities who would take their rightful place in the Islamic world.

Everyone knew that China violated almost every aspect of world commerce. Everyone knew that China would never allow the U.S. to trade with China the same way that Beijing traded with America. Everyone knew that 1.3-billion-person China was a neo-imperialist Communist dictatorship that was headed on an announced trajectory of world hegemony. Obama in particular thought that stopping China’s agenda would be medicine that was more painful than the disease.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Bill Barr’s Declassification Kerfuffle By Andrew C. McCarthy

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/william-barr-declassification-authority-debate/

The media panic notwithstanding, the buck still stops with the president.

L ast week, President Trump conferred on Attorney General Bill Barr the authority to declassify documents relevant to his inquiry into what we can collectively call “the Russia investigation.” This includes not only “Crossfire Hurricane,” the counterintelligence probe formally opened by the FBI in late July 2016, but all of the relevant investigative threads, including those pursued by other intelligence agencies — such as the CIA’s collaborations with foreign intelligence services, beginning in 2015.

In other words, the public is about to learn a lot more about decision-making during the Obama administration. As night follows day, the Democrat-media complex went apoplectic. Gone are the days when the press always wanted more information because it perceived its role, vouchsafed by the Constitution, to be the public’s eye on government.

Much of the mainstream media is now in an all but openly declared partnership with one of our two major political parties. Consequently, when a Republican administration is in power or being questioned, classified leaks are the order of the day. When a Democratic administration is under the microscope, we get lectures on the wages of compromising intelligence secrets, especially methods and sources.

So, naturally, we are treated to hysterical reports that the attorney general — whose Justice Department cannot enforce the law effectively unless it can entice cooperation from reluctant sources — is going to expose covert operatives gratuitously, ensuring that no courageous spy or foreign intelligence service will ever risk cooperation with the United States again.

It is an absurd narrative.

MY SAY: Comments turned off

MY SAY: MEMORIAL DAY 75 YEARS AGO

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

In August 1943 President Roosevelt met with Winston Churchill in Quebec to discuss a plan for a cross-English Channel assault to liberate Nazi occupied France. The operation’s code name was “Overlord.” In November 1943, at a meeting held the Soviet Union’s embassy in Teheran, the plan was formulated and shortly thereafter  President Roosevelt appointed General Dwight David Eisenhower to be Supreme Allied Commander of “Overlord.” British Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery, renowned for leading the first major Allied victory at El Alamein, Egypt, in 1942 became ground commander of the Anglo-American forces under Dwight D. Eisenhower.

On Memorial Day May 30, 1944  2,876,000 Allied troops were amassed in southern England joined by an armada of 4,000 American, British and Canadian ships and 1300 planes to give air cover to the invasion troops prepared to land on five French beaches code named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

Strategy was bedeviled by disagreements, poor weather and tidal conditions, but on June 5th before dawn, Eisenhower decided to proceed. He wrote a brief note accepting full responsibility for the decision and accepting total blame should the assault fail.

To his troops as they were boarding transports to combat, he gave this speech:

Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force:

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.

The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

After Normandy, there were many hard won and brutal battles, but the tide did turn and eleven months later, on May 7, 1945 the war in Europe ended. God bless our troops ….rsk

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Amazon eyeing office space on Manhattan’s West Side By Lois Weiss

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://nypost.com/2019/05/27/amazon-is-reportedly-eyeing-office-space-on-manhattans-west-side/

Amazon may have bid farewell to Queens, but it still “hearts” the Big Apple.

After walking away from a deal to build a headquarters on the Queens waterfront in Long Island City, Amazon is back to shopping for office space on Manhattan’s West Side, sources tell The Post.

The tech giant has been in talks with owners of two shiny, new skyscrapers located just one block west of Penn Station: The newly built One Manhattan West and its soon-to-be sister project Two Manhattan West, sources tell The Post.

The online retailer is seeking “at least 100,000 square feet or much more” — just to start, one well-placed source said.

Amazon, which already has 5,000 workers in NYC, had been “seriously” looking at Two Manhattan West prior to choosing Long Island City in November, a second source said. “That interest has returned over the last few weeks,” the source added.

Brookfield, which owns the two Manhattan West towers (and another at 5 Manhattan West where Amazon is already a tenant), denied through a spokesman that it was leasing to the Seattle company. But multiple sources pointed to the company’s strict confidentiality agreements as a potential reason.

“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” an Amazon spokeswoman said.

At Two Manhattan West, Amazon is eyeing space at the top the tower, sources said. The only issue is the building, to be located on 31st Street and 9th Ave., won’t be ready for tenants until 2022.

One Manhattan West, by contrast, will be ready for tenants to move in this fall, including a 250,000-square-foot space in the middle of the 67-story tower. The 250,000-square-foot space won’t be available long-term, but could satisfy Amazon’s space needs until Two Manhattan is ready, sources said.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Florida governor forges new ties, makes history on Israel visit

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/05/28/florida-governor-forges-new-ties-makes-history-on-israel-visit/

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signs Memorandum of Understanding between Florida State University and Ariel University, becoming the first sitting governor to establish a relationship between a U.S. state and an Israeli university in Judea and Samaria. De Santis tells audience: “I say here: BDS has no place in Florida.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding between Florida State University and Ariel University on Monday, becoming the first sitting governor to establish a relationship between a U.S. state and an Israeli university in Judea and Samaria.

The majority of the international community considers Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria as illegal, and shuns, or even boycotts, Israeli institutions located there, such as Ariel University.

In appreciation, DeSantis received an Honorary Fellowship Award from the university. At the ceremony were philanthropists Sheldon and Dr. Miriam Adelson, Ariel Mayor Eli Shaviro, and Ariel University President Yehuda Danon.

“I promised to be the most pro-Israel Governor in America and I sincerely thank Ariel University for presenting me the Honorary Fellowship Award,” DeSantis said at the event. “This recognition means a lot and I am humbled to be the recipient. Let it be known that Florida will always stand with Israel, our greatest ally in the Middle East.”

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Syrian army shoots at Israeli jet, IDF returns fire

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/05/28/syrian-army-shoots-at-israeli-jet-idf-returns-fire/

IDF: Our aircraft “was carrying out a routine flight in Israel. The projectile landed in Syrian territory. In response, we targeted the Syrian launcher that was responsible for firing it.” Syrian army says one of its soldiers was killed, another wounded in the Israeli response strike.

Israel’s military said it attacked a Syrian anti-aircraft position that fired on one of its warplanes on Monday, and Syrian state media reported that a soldier had been killed in what it called “Israeli aggression.”

A statement from the IDF said that earlier Monday a Syrian anti-aircraft system fired at one of its aircraft “as it was carrying out a routine flight in Israel. The projectile landed in Syrian territory. In response, we targeted the Syrian launcher that was responsible for firing it.”

The IDF “sees any threat against its aircraft with great severity and takes measures to defend them.”

A Syrian military source was cited by state news agency SANA as saying “the Israeli enemy targeted one of our military positions” in Quneitra province, which is adjacent to the Israeli Golan Heights.

It said one soldier was killed, another wounded and a military vehicle damaged.

The back-to-back statements come amid heightened regional tension over Iran’s role in Syria and other parts of the Middle East. They also follow a number of reported Israeli strikes on Syria in the past ten days, according to state-run media.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Comey’s FBI Ignored Sexual Abuse Victims To Play Politics By Julie Kelly

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/05/27/comeys-fbi-ignored-sexual-abuse-victims-to-pursue-political-foes/

As the political world anticipates an internal Justice Department review of misconduct by James Comey’s FBI related to the Trump campaign probe, hundreds of American parents await another report: Why Comey’s FBI delayed an investigation into one of the country’s most notorious child sex abusers, former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. The Michigan State University osteopathic physician now is serving a 100-year minimum prison sentence for numerous crimes, including sexual assault of minors, sexual assault, and possession of child pornography.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department’s inspector general is looking into how the FBI handled the initial sexual abuse allegations made against Nassar in 2015 and 2016.

“The gymnasts’ complaints languished for at least nine months before an FBI office opened a formal investigation,” the Journal reported. “In their probe of the bureau’s handling of the matter, Justice Department investigators have conducted interviews with several people, including athletes and gymnastics officials. The investigation could lead to disciplinary action and criminal charges.”

Lawmakers also have questions. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray with questions related to the agency’s handling of the case in 2015 and 2016. “We have met several gymnasts who expressed concern about FBI delays in responding to their allegations against Nassar,” they wrote in July. “Our staffs have also reached out to the FBI for information related to these requests, but were not provided any information.”

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Hezbollah Sleeper Agent Convicted Of Plotting U.S. Terror Attacks Lebanese-born terrorist was a naturalized U.S. citizen. Michael Cutler

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273862/hezbollah-sleeper-agent-convicted-plotting-us-michael-cutler

Tensions and hostilities between the United States and Iran have been ramping up and while the news media focuses on how Iran has been operating throughout the Middle East threatening our allies including Israel, the media has ignored that operatives of Hezbollah have, for many years, been operating widely throughout Latin America in conjunction with drug cartels that engage in the smuggling of huge quantities of narcotics into the United States as well as huge numbers of aliens.

This not only provides a major source of revenue for Iran to fund its wide-ranging terrorist operations but to provide Iran with opportunities to move sleeper agents into the United States.

Of course “Sleeper Agents” not unlike aliens in general don’t just enter the United States illegally by running our borders but also enter the U.S. by various other methods, including by being admitted legally at ports of entry.

The issue of “Sleeper Agents” is not a new threat but one that has been of great concern for many years.

On March 21, 2012 the House Committee on Homeland Security that was then chaired by New York Congressman Peter King, conducted a hearing on the topic, Iran, Hezbollah, and the Threat to the Homeland.  The Huffington Post published a report on the hearing, Peter King: Iran May Have ‘Hundreds’ Of Hezbollah Agents In U.S.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Sick Man of Europe Is Europe The EU’s election results show the Continent is far from realizing its dreams of becoming a superpower. By Josef Joffe

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sick-man-of-europe-is-europe-11558989783

Two takeaways from Sunday’s European Union elections: First, the centrists—the moderate right and left—were decimated. For the first time since 1979, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, the reliably pro-European bloc, no longer hold the majority in the 751-member European Parliament. Second, the far right—the Europe bashers and nationalists—scored big, increasing their take to about 170 seats. In Britain, the Brexit Party trounced both Labour and the Tories. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally outpolled President Emmanuel Macron’s party and its allies.

The numbers mirror the shifting tectonics of European politics, which are pushing against the “ever-closer union” enshrined in the European Community’s founding treaties. It was a noble and not wild-eyed dream. Relentlessly expanding from the original six member states to 28, the EU boasted everything that could go into the making of a superpower. Its gross domestic product is only $2 trillion behind America’s and $5 trillion ahead of China’s. The EU fields as many soldiers as the U.S. does, and its population outstrips America’s by nearly 200 million. Yet in global clout, the EU is a waif in a world dominated by Washington, Beijing and Moscow.

Nor will the fates favor the EU anytime soon. For all its splendor, Europe has not been able to transmute its magnificent riches into strategic muscle, and this for three reasons.

First, as the rise of the nationalist right shows, the EU suffers from deepening ideological divisions. In the east, Poland, Hungary and the rest are jealously defending the sovereignty they had lost first to Hitler, then to Stalin. They cherish subsidies from Brussels but will not yield to what they see as diktats of liberal goodness.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran Must Understand Returning to the Negotiating Table is the Only Way Forward by Con Coughlin

Posted By on May 28th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14297/iran-deal-negotiations

As Mr Trump has made clear at his press conference in Japan, where he is currently on a state visit, his main objective is to agree a new deal with Tehran, one that, unlike Mr Obama’s flawed arrangement, addresses all aspects of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as its malign activities in the Middle East.

“I really believe that Iran would like to make a deal… I think that’s very smart of them, and I think that’s a possibility to happen. It has a chance to be a great country with the same leadership.” — US President Donald J. Trump, press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, May 27.

Mr Pompeo told me that that Washington was not pushing for regime change in Tehran, but was instead seeking a revised agreement that satisfied all of Washington’s concerns about Iran’s conduct, and not just the narrow issue of uranium enrichment.

To date, the Iranians have responded to the Trump administration’s actions by threatening to intensify their policy of destabilization in the region.

There is one simple way for Iran to defuse the mounting tensions with the US and its allies in the Gulf: return to the negotiating table and agree to a new deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Amid mounting concern that Washington’s recent military build-up in the Gulf region will lead to renewed conflict, many commentators appear to have lost sight of the Trump administration’s key objective when it withdrew from the 2015 deal negotiated, in large part, by former US President Barack Obama.

The aim of US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement was not, as his Democrat critics have alleged, to provoke a military confrontation with Tehran. On the contrary, as Mr Trump has made clear at his press conference in Japan, where he is currently on a state visit, his main objective is to agree a new deal with Tehran, one that, unlike Mr Obama’s flawed arrangement, addresses all aspects of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as its malign activities in the Middle East.