First up today is a very germane development which isn't receiving nearly enough attention, but something which should receive our focus.
If you recall, the administration went into Libya under the premise of "Responsibility to Protect" (aka RTP or R2P), a doctrine adopted by the Obama administration. This "responsibility" works under the premise that the U.S. may need to intervene in a foreign nation's affairs if certain segments of that population requires our assistance. It is sufficiently vague so that this "policy" could and would be abused to accomplish whatever agenda the current U.S. regime may have. This premise, allowing our "intervention" into Libya is highly questionable.
Many of us felt that ultimately such a policy would be used in Israel, under the premise that the so-called "palestinians" would need U.S. intervention - in order to protect them from the Israeli government.
That idea may be reaching fulfillment with the chief proponent of this "R2P" - Samantha Power, and her new appointment to the UN, where such policies can be promoted and exercised. Tucked away at the end of this article we can see this development:
While Rice’s controversial remarks are well known, Samantha Power’s are less public. In fact, there was little reference to her hostile views toward Israel, and few, if any outlets, considered her nomination as controversial. (Fox News is an exception.) NBC News, in a spotlight on Power, called her “an unrelenting human rights advocate who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, sometimes to a fault.” The article quotes Laura Pitter, “a lawyer and counterterrorism adviser for Human Rights Watch,” as saying that Power “is brilliant,” and that she “can’t think of a better candidate for the position she’s been nominated for.”
At least the NBC piece pointed its readers to a strongly argued dissent. “That opinion isn’t shared by writers at conservative web magazine American Thinker, who have been writing harsh critiques of Power since 2008, arguing that Power is a ‘notorious critic of Israel,’” wrote Elizabeth Chuck.
“Does Power actually believe that the NIE put to rest concerns about the Iranian nuclear program?” asked Richard Baehr and Ed Lasky back in 2008 for the American Thinker (emphasis in original). “It is not at all hard to imagine her having a senior foreign policy role in an Obama administration, perhaps as US Ambassador to the United Nations, an organization she views warmly,” they presciently wrote. “The problem for those who favor a strong US-Israel relationship is that Power seems obsessed with Israel, and in a negative way.”
Investor’s Business Daily reminds us that Power, “the longtime influential Obama foreign policy adviser who had to quit officially advising his 2008 campaign when she infamously called Clinton a ‘monster,’ is the most well-known proponent of Responsibility to Protect, or R2P—the idea that those who wear the U.S. uniform should pretend to be serving a ‘United World’ rather than the Stars and Stripes.”
Power’s record, and her past statements and writings about Israel and the Palestinians, are brilliantly laid outby Melanie Phillips, the British journalist and author of World Turned Upside Down, the subject of an AIM interview in 2010. Phillips says that Power’s appointment validates a prediction she had made: that if re-elected, “in a second term, [Obama] would promote to the front rank those who were so extreme and so dangerous to the well-being of America and the civilised world that in his first term, so as not to frighten the horses, he would keep them in the lower ranks out of sight.”
She added that Power “is the living embodiment of the way in which ‘human rights’ have morphed into their absolute opposite, and instead of providing a protection against tyranny have been turned into the anvil upon which freedom and justice are being smashed.”
With Susan Rice’s appointment, she may be able to avoid further direct scrutiny from Congress, and her loyalty has been rewarded. Let’s hope that Congress takes its time examining Samantha Power’s record and see how well she can stand the scrutiny.
Lets keep an eye on this development. I am again predicting that the RTP "doctrine" will be used against Israel by the current administration, just as it was used in Libya.
Since we're at Gulagbound, we also see the following article:
Kalashnikov emphasized that Hezbollah, Syria, Iran and Russia are working together against the United States. “Russia is behind Syria and Iran,” he said, “supplying weapons and technologists. So far I see no viable solution to that challenge. That is why I was irritated by your president’s words, ‘we are more secure.’ But who is really in control? Who really has the initiative, Obama or Putin?”
I asked Kalashnikov about Russia’s vulnerability to Islamic terrorism. His answer took me by surprise. “The Russians think that with Orthodox Christianity Russia will be able to cope with Islam,” he explained. “Orthodox Christianity is strangely compatible with Islam. Western Christianity is far more distant from Islam. Did you know there are very strong and fast-developing contacts between the Russian Orthodox Church and Iran? This started some five or six years ago. The mullahs and the Orthodox are consolidating their friendship. They share an ideological and spiritual platform which is called ‘anti-Americanism.’ Both of them reject American values and way of life, and they reject American policy. That unifies them. It’s very important after the Soviet collapse that Russia was able to combine with true allies who will work against the same ideological enemy.
“The main thing, the absolute priority,” said Kalashnikov, “is to get rid of the Americans at any price. It is an absolute priority today. No doubt about it. Whether it is dangerous to combine with fascists, we will see. The main thing is to separate and split NATO. This has been the core of the Russian strategy in Europe. You have to understand that anything that is negative for the Americans is positive for Moscow. American society and ideology – most all American values – are absolutely alien and opposed by us. That is why we are desperately seeking new allies and friends of whatever kind.
This is a fascinating read, which details the various alliances in the nation-states that exist today and how perfectly they shape up with biblical prophecy. Below is just the intro and conclusions, but the entire article should be read:
The United States is the most powerful nation on earth. In fact, the U.S. is the most powerful nation this world has ever seen, yet there is no mention of a great superpower that fits the description of the U.S. in the pages of our Scriptures.
As students of Bible Prophecy, we know that the Bible lists only four major power-blocks in the end-times; a Revived Roman Empire, the Kings of the East and South (directional from Israel), and Russia. Based on this glaring absence, logic leads one to believe that something terrible or unexpected happens to us. We will become less relevant to Bible prophecy, than Libya or Ethiopia…who are mentioned.
We also believe that there are yet still four major conflicts that the Bible states must happen. These are: Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, Ezekiel 38-39, and Revelation 19 (Armageddon). With the exception of Armageddon, we aren’t sure when these events will happen, or in what order they will happen. All we know, is that the prophetic stage has been set and the actors are all waiting in queue. As Gavrilo Princip was the spark for World War I (and subsequent events), all we are waiting for now is for that prophetic spark to get these last-days chain of events in motion.
As students of Bible Prophecy, we know that the Bible lists only four major power-blocks in the end-times; a Revived Roman Empire, the Kings of the East and South (directional from Israel), and Russia. Based on this glaring absence, logic leads one to believe that something terrible or unexpected happens to us. We will become less relevant to Bible prophecy, than Libya or Ethiopia…who are mentioned.
We also believe that there are yet still four major conflicts that the Bible states must happen. These are: Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, Ezekiel 38-39, and Revelation 19 (Armageddon). With the exception of Armageddon, we aren’t sure when these events will happen, or in what order they will happen. All we know, is that the prophetic stage has been set and the actors are all waiting in queue. As Gavrilo Princip was the spark for World War I (and subsequent events), all we are waiting for now is for that prophetic spark to get these last-days chain of events in motion.
It is increasingly clear that the U.S. had to rise to preeminence out of the two World Wars in order to prevent Europe (Revived Roman Empire) from utterly destroying itself, and to serve as the economic catalyst that would re-energize the world after its restructuring.
We were the economic engine, sufficient in size, natural resources, and man-power which enabled the following nations to either find shelter under (Israel, Europe, Korea), or to rise up against (China, Russia, and Islamic Powers) us. Almost every nation on earth owes the U.S. in some form or fashion for our blood, sweat, and dollars for their current resurgence and capabilities.
But as the Scriptures point out by our awkward absence, our usefulness in the prophetic course was directly tied to our faithfulness to our Creator. It would seem that both have run their course.
As we turned from God, He simply allowed our wishes and returned the favor. The American shelf-life has expired, and it has become clear that we are now THE major impediment to a global one-world order.
God has allowed our enemies to be both numerous, and to rise up, both from without and within our borders. They are numerous, and increasingly volatile, with the weapons of war that could end all life on this planet were it not for The Restrainer, holding events at bay. But in order for all those end-time scenarios to line up and come to pass as so many of us have expected, for so long…a major realignment in the World’s order would need to take place.
So what would immediately and effectively end the American experiment? What could wean the world’s dependence on the mighty US Dollar? What would demand an immediate restructuring of the world’s political, militaristic, and economic orders?
I don’t need to tell you…
We were the economic engine, sufficient in size, natural resources, and man-power which enabled the following nations to either find shelter under (Israel, Europe, Korea), or to rise up against (China, Russia, and Islamic Powers) us. Almost every nation on earth owes the U.S. in some form or fashion for our blood, sweat, and dollars for their current resurgence and capabilities.
But as the Scriptures point out by our awkward absence, our usefulness in the prophetic course was directly tied to our faithfulness to our Creator. It would seem that both have run their course.
As we turned from God, He simply allowed our wishes and returned the favor. The American shelf-life has expired, and it has become clear that we are now THE major impediment to a global one-world order.
God has allowed our enemies to be both numerous, and to rise up, both from without and within our borders. They are numerous, and increasingly volatile, with the weapons of war that could end all life on this planet were it not for The Restrainer, holding events at bay. But in order for all those end-time scenarios to line up and come to pass as so many of us have expected, for so long…a major realignment in the World’s order would need to take place.
So what would immediately and effectively end the American experiment? What could wean the world’s dependence on the mighty US Dollar? What would demand an immediate restructuring of the world’s political, militaristic, and economic orders?
I don’t need to tell you…
"For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober." 1 Thessalonians 5:2-6
[Exactly what we should expect in these last days. This is another one worth reading in full, as a staggering number of specific examples of persecution are cited. Below is just the intro and the conclusion]
“Scandal.” That one word pretty much summarizes the Obama administration’s second term – from Benghazi-gate, to the IRS’s all-out war on hundreds of conservative organizations, to the Justice Department’s “criminalization of journalism” through targeting, harassing and seizing the records of news reporters and editors.
Yet, the mother of all Obama scandals – indeed, the root of all the rest – receives little attention from the press. In fact, most Americans have never even heard an explicit reference to the primary scandal of the Obama administration. That is the sole focus of the June issue of WND’s acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine.
As Whistleblower Editor David Kupelian says in the issue, headlined “OBAMA’S WAR ON CHRISTIANS“: “Just scratch a little below the surface of all the current scandals, and the mother-lode comes fully into view.”
“Take the IRS scandal. Who exactly are all these 500-plus ‘tea party,’ ‘patriot,’ ‘conservative’ and ‘prolife’ groups being targeted by the revenue agency?” asks Kupelian. “Who populates these organizations? What beliefs and values animate them? By and large, they are Christians and Jews who strongly hold to a traditional, biblical, Judeo-Christian worldview.”
Continues Kupelian: “Haven’t you wondered why the Obama Department of Homeland Security warns law enforcement departments that the real ‘extremist’ threats to America are from pro-lifers, patriots, constitutionalists, amnesty opponents, gun enthusiasts and military veterans? Haven’t you scratched your head trying to figure out why the U.S. military recently threatened to court-martial Christian service personnel just for sharing their faith with others?
“The hard truth is: Barack Obama considers traditional, freedom-loving, center-right Christian America – not Marxism, not Islamism, not a toxic culture nor a stagnant economy – to be his biggest enemy, his greatest obstacle to fundamentally transforming America.”
“Fasten your seat belts,” says Kupelian, “because we’re about to go for a wild ride, connecting the dots of the Obama administration’s many outrages, allowing the real scandal underlying all the others to finally come clearly into view.”
[Can this continue to worsen? You bet it can]
As if the surveillance state didn’t have enough to do, what with tracking every call in America and scanning every Internet transaction. The Wall Street Journal reported late last night that the NSA has been cataloguing credit card transactions as well, rendering utterly void any concept of transactional privacy:
The National Security Agency’s monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency’s activities.
The disclosure this week of an order by a secret U.S. court for Verizon Communications Inc.’s phone records set off the latest public discussion of the program. But people familiar with the NSA’s operations said the initiative also encompasses phone-call data from AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp., records from Internet-service providers and purchase information from credit-card providers. …
NSA also obtains access to data from Internet service providers on Internet use such as data about email or website visits, several former officials said. NSA has established similar relationships with credit-card companies, three former officials said.
It couldn’t be determined if any of the Internet or credit-card arrangements are ongoing, as are the phone company efforts, or one-shot collection efforts. The credit-card firms, phone companies and NSA declined to comment for this article.
Er, let’s test the one-shot theory a bit. Let’s say that the NSA trolled millions of credit card transactions and found any kind of a useful pattern. Would they stop acquiring data under those circumstances? I highly doubt it; intelligence agencies always want more data to analyze, not less.
Here’s another question. Exactly how many terrorists use credit cards to buy the kinds of products that would create those patterns? I’m not going to posit that terrorists are geniuses by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn’t take too much candlepower to know that credit-card transactions leave a paper trail even when the US government hasn’t acted as though George Orwell was writing a how-to manual when he published 1984 — sixty-four years ago tomorrow, in an odd coincidence.
The bottom line:
Essentially, the administration is saying that without any individual suspicion of wrongdoing, the government is allowed to know whom Americans are calling every time they make a phone call, for how long they talk and from where.
This sort of tracking can reveal a lot of personal and intimate information about an individual. To casually permit this surveillance — with the American public having no idea that the executive branch is now exercising this power — fundamentally shifts power between the individual and the state, and it repudiates constitutional principles governing search, seizure and privacy.
- The U.S. government has obtained a top secret court order that requires Verizon to turn over the telephone records of millions of Americans to the National Security Agency on an “ongoing daily basis.”
- The Obama administration is secretly carrying out a domestic surveillance program under which it is collecting business communications records involving Americans under a hotly debated section of the Patriot Act, according to a highly classified court order.
- The Obama administration acknowledged that it is collecting a massive amount of telephone records from at least one carrier, reopening the debate over privacy even as it defended the practice as necessary to protect Americans against attack.
- The National Security Agency has long justified its spying powers by arguing that its charter allows surveillance on those outside of the United States, while avoiding intrusions into the private communications of American citizens. But the latest revelation of the extent of the NSA’s surveillance shows that it has focused specifically on Americans, to the degree that its data collection has in at least one major spying incident explicitly excluded those outside the United States.
- U.S. border agents should continue to be allowed to search a traveler’s laptop, cellphone or other electronic device and keep copies of any data on them based on no more than a hunch, according to an internal Homeland Security Department study. It contends limiting such searches would prevent the U.S. from detecting child pornographers or terrorists and expose the government to lawsuits.
- The FBI is unhappy that there are communications technologies it cannot intercept, and wants a new requirement that software makers and communications companies create a back door so they can listen in when they want.
If these headlines appeared over the course of a 10-year period, there would be plenty to worry about in terms of privacy rights in the United States. But, amazingly, these news stories all appeared in just one day – yesterday – in the reports of news organizations around the world.
What it suggests is that America is facing a constitutional crisis in which government is moving to be master of the American people rather than their servant
We begin In Polk County, Florida, where students at an elementary school, a middle school and a high school had their irises scanned—without parental permission—as part of what officials are characterizing as a “student safety” program.
“With this program, we will be able to identify when and where a student gets on the bus, when they arrive at their school location, when and what bus the student boards and disembarks in the afternoon. This is an effort to further enhance the safety of our students. The EyeSwipe-Nano is an ideal replacement for the card based system since your child will not have to be responsible for carrying an identification card."
Last year I did a report about a student in Texas who declined to wear an RFID tracking badge to school. After briefly winning a stay from being forced to do so, 15-year-old Andrea Hernandez was given two choices by a federal judge: submit or leave the school.
A 2010 story from the “Electronic Frontier Foundation” reveals what is potentially and frighteningly relevant, following the revelation that preschoolers in California’s Contra Costa County were outfitted with RFID chips in their shirts, courtesy of a federal grant. Again this was pitched as a cost savings move because, prior to this wiring up of children, teachers were actually expected to keep track of child’s attendance and meal schedule. Yet here’s what else can be tracked:
“But of course, an RFID chip allows for far more than that minimal record-keeping. Instead, it provides the potential for nearly constant monitoring of a child’s physical location. If readings are taken often enough, you could create an extraordinarily detailed portrait of a child’s school day—one that’s easy to imagine being misused, particularly as the chips substitute for direct adult monitoring and judgment. If RFID records show a child moving around a lot, could she be tagged as hyper-active? If he doesn’t move around a lot, could he get a reputation for laziness?”
Creating an extraordinarily detailed portrait, not of a child’s day, but of the child himself, is called “data mining.” Fast forward to 2013, and the Obama administration’s Common Core educational program. Or what they’re billing as an educational program. The merits of the curriculum, a troubling question in and of itself, is a subject for another day.
On the other hand, if this expose of Common Core’s data mining initiative doesn’t get your blood pressure pumping, you’re either brain-dead, or every bit the totalitarian these government jackboots would love every American to become.
On the other hand, if this expose of Common Core’s data mining initiative doesn’t get your blood pressure pumping, you’re either brain-dead, or every bit the totalitarian these government jackboots would love every American to become.
Too bad, there's more:
“‘Personally Identifiable Information’ will be extracted from each student, which will include the following data: parents’ names, address, Social Security Number, date of birth, place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc. On the other hand, according to the SLDS brief, ‘Sensitive Information’ will also be extracted, which delves into the intimate details of students’ lives:
1. Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or parent;
2. Mental and psychological problems of the student or the student’s family;
3. Sex behavior or attitudes;
4. Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, and demeaning behavior;
5. Critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships;
6. Legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers;
7. Religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent; or
8. Income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such program).
Now ask yourself one question. How would you feel being strapped up like a lab rat and having every emotional tell of your personality monitored, and then placed in a database that could be sold to various companies—or maintained by the government?
“‘Personally Identifiable Information’ will be extracted from each student, which will include the following data: parents’ names, address, Social Security Number, date of birth, place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc. On the other hand, according to the SLDS brief, ‘Sensitive Information’ will also be extracted, which delves into the intimate details of students’ lives:
1. Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or parent;
2. Mental and psychological problems of the student or the student’s family;
3. Sex behavior or attitudes;
4. Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, and demeaning behavior;
5. Critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships;
6. Legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers;
7. Religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent; or
8. Income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such program).
Now ask yourself one question. How would you feel being strapped up like a lab rat and having every emotional tell of your personality monitored, and then placed in a database that could be sold to various companies—or maintained by the government?
The program detailed in the bombshell Washington Post report wasn't meant to be publicly disclosed, despite the fact that it had been established in 2007.
A government whistleblower provided the information to the Post because of the chilling capabilities of U.S. government surveillance.
From the Post report:
Firsthand experience with these systems, and horror at their capabilities, is what drove a career intelligence officer to provide PowerPoint slides about PRISM and supporting materials to The Washington Post in order to expose what he believes to be a gross intrusion on privacy. “They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type,” the officer said.
The program, which is dubbed "PRISM," allows the National Security
Agency and FBI to tap directly into the central servers of some of the U.S.'s giant tech companies. Those companies include Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.
Agency and FBI to tap directly into the central servers of some of the U.S.'s giant tech companies. Those companies include Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.[This is also a must read. Below see it in full]
Roy Costner, a senior at Liberty High School in Pickens, created national attention when he ripped up his pre-approved graduation speech and instead led the crowd in a recitation of The Lord’s Prayer.
A video of the speech was posted on YouTube and has since gone viral. It shows the 18-year-old setting aside his speech.
“I think most of you will understand when I say, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven,” he said as the crowd began to cheer.
He concluded his remarks by pointing to the sky and saying, “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”
The school district had been in a battle over public prayers after the FFRF filed a complaint objecting to what they called an “unconstitutional prayer practice.”
They hold the school district responsible for Costner’s open act of defiance and what they called a string of problematic religious violations.
“The valedictorian who so insensitively inflicted Christian prayer on a captive audience at a secular graduation ceremony, is a product of a school district which itself set an unconstitutional example by hosting school board prayer,” FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a prepared statement.
A school district spokesperson said the valedictorian will not be penalized for what he did and Costner told Fox News that he has absolutely no regrets.
The prayer controversy had gripped the small South Carolina community for quite some time – and many locals took issue with a group from Wisconsin causing problems.
“Our community is very passionate about prayer in our schools,” Costner told Fox News. “I began writing the speech and I knew from the start that I was going to include prayer.”
He talked it over with his father, the youth pastor at Fellowship Community Church. And he also sought the counsel of other pastors in the area.
“They wanted me to make sure I was doing it for God and not myself,” he said.
So Costner spent the next few days in deep prayer and Bible study.
“I asked God exactly what He wanted me to do,” he explained. “I was trying to think of a prayer that would suit all denominations. That’s why I went with The Lord’s Prayer.”
And on graduation day a very nervous Costner took his place at the ceremony – with a serious case of the jitters.
“I was extremely nervous,” he said. “I didn’t know what kind of reaction I was going to get. I didn’t know which way it was going to go.”
And there was another problem. Costner’s speech had already been placed in a binder – on the platform. He would not be able to bring a copy of his replacement speech on stage.
What happened will be remembered in Pickens for quite some time – when an 18-year-old boy defied a group of atheists, agnostics and freethinkers.
“I was always taught to stand for what I believe in,” he said. “That’s what I believe in. I was thanking my God before everyone. I wanted to give him a shout-out.”
As for his critics, Costner quoted a passage of Scripture from the Gospel of Matthew.
“If you deny me among men, I will deny you to the Father,” he said.
He also had a special message to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
“We are not in a country where we have freedom from religion,” he said. “We have freedom of religion.”
Costner said he will be attending Clemson University in the fall where he will study computer science.
Reacting to reports that the Obama Department of Justice may prosecute those who write and post articles offensive to Muslims, Pamela Geller of the American Freedom Defense Initiative has vowed, “We will fight you on this every step of the way. We will drag your dhimmi asses all the way to the Supreme Court. This is Sharia enforcement, and we are not going to stand for it.”
The term “dhimmi” refers to submission to or enforcement of Islamic law, also called Sharia.
Also see:
[Yet another enemy of Israel is armed by the U.S.]
US Secretary of State John Kerry quietly approved sending $1.3 billion in arms to Egypt in May, waiving the requirements of a US law meant to promote democratic development in the post-revolutionary country.
On Wednesday, Egypt’s state prosecutor announced that 12 of the country’s best-known bloggers and activists were headed for trial on charges of instigating violence during a March demonstration against President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
The lawmakers said that there was no way the Obama administration would be able to certify that Egypt was progressing toward democracy, given the jail sentences. But according to the report, they didn’t know that Kerry had already waived the congressional restrictions only weeks earlier.
Joel Rosenberg:
Forty-six years to the week after the Six Day War of June 1967, serious new tensions are mounting on the Israeli-Syrian border, with fears rising that a major conflict between the two countries could be coming. Israeli military forces have been put on alert as violence gets closer to the demilitarized zone and after Syrian rebels seized control of a border crossing post.
“Israel has repeatedly declared that it has no intention of getting involved in the Syrian civil war but that it will act to protect its own interests,” reports the Times. “Israel’s minister of defense, Moshe Yaalon, said this week that Israel would not tolerate the transfer of advanced weapons from the Syrian government to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia; a loss of Syrian government control over chemical weapons; or a heating up of the Golan frontier and a spillover of fire into Israeli-held territory. Tensions have risen between Israel and Syria after three airstrikes on Syrian soil this year that targeted advanced weapons and were attributed to Israel. There have been numerous instances of fire spilling over into the Israeli-held Golan Heights. The Israeli military said that much of it was assumed to be stray fire. But last month, Syria acknowledged it had intentionally attacked an Israeli target, a military vehicle that was shot at as it patrolled the cease-fire line. Syria said the jeep had crossed into its territory on the Golan Heights, which Israel denied. In that instance and others, Israeli tanks have fired back several times at Syrian positions.”
There’s an old saying: it’s better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. This is Secretary of State John Kerry’s problem. Remarkably — in just a matter of weeks — Kerry has painted himself into a corner by staking his term as secretary of state on making Israel-Palestinian peace.
“If we do not succeed now, we may not get another chance,” Kerry told the American Jewish Committee. “I have heard all of the arguments for why it is too difficult to end this conflict,” he added. “Cynicism has never solved anything. It has never given birth to a state, and it won’t.”
Well, not exactly. First, Kerry is practically begging the Palestinian Authority to accept a state. The problem is not cynicism, but naivete. The cynicism is based on long experience and a careful evaluation of the political, economic, and strategic factors involved. Second, Kerry hasn’t heard that the last chance already happened, thirteen years ago, at the Camp David meeting in 2000. No amount of wishful thinking will make it otherwise. In fact, the wishful thinking endangers people.
Let’s review:
– The PLO, Palestinian Authority, and Fatah leader Yasir Arafat turned down an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem and around $20 billion in aid as a starting point in further talks.– Arafat launched a five-year-long war of terror against Israel in which around 2000 Israelis were killed.– When offered an even better deal by President Bill Clinton, Arafat turned it down.– Even when besieged in his headquarters, saved only by U.S. intervention from total, humiliating defeat, Arafat still rejected compromise.– In the 13 years since the Camp David meeting, the Palestinians have not pursued any serious negotiations.– About half the territory and people the Palestinian Authority claims to negotiate for is not even under its control. It is ruled by Hamas, which advocates genocide against the Jews and is totally opposed to peace on any terms. Hamas would do everything possible to wreck any deal made by the PA, and Hamas has about 20 to 30 percent support on the West Bank.– In the present climate of Islamist triumphalism, Hamas has more state support than the PA, and the PA is terrified of being “traitorous moderates.”– The PA strategy is clearly to seek maximal recognition of a state without having to make a deal with Israel. Kerry’s recent offer of $4 billion — for tourism development! How much will the U.S. government pay off the PA for pretending to negotiate? — was turned down by the PA within 24 hours, even though they could use the money for the leadership’s Swiss bank accounts.
Might some of these facts be relevant?
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