Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Daniel Greenfield • February 20, 2025 at 5:00 am
The State Department has spent nearly two decades selling the myth that empowering the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces] will weaken Hezbollah, but after $3 billion in spending, Hezbollah is more powerful than ever, while American taxpayers are stuck with financing its auxiliary force in the hopes of defeating it. Hezbollah won't disarm, nor will the LAF disarm it or prevent it from attacking Israel, because Lebanon's entire balance of power depends on aiming Hezbollah's weapons at Israel. The $3 billion dollars that America squandered on the LAF... didn't counter Shiite Islamic rule, it enabled it. Steube's PAGER Act would cut off further funds to the LAF until the "Lebanese Armed Forces ceases coordination and support with Hezbollah" and the "Lebanese Armed Forces cease coordination and support with Iran". Lebanon's government is a Hezbollah puppet regime. The LAF is a puppet army.
Lebanon's government is a Hezbollah puppet regime. The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is a puppet army. The $3 billion that America squandered on the LAF, like the even larger sums wasted on arming and training the Iraqi military, didn't counter Shiite Islamic rule, it enabled it. Pictured: Soldiers of the LAF organize displaced persons outside the village of Kfar Kila, in southern Lebanon on February 18, 2025. (Photo by Rabih Daher/AFP via Getty Images)
In 2006, after a Hezbollah invasion, Israel launched a military campaign against the Islamic terrorist group. After a month of fighting, the Bush administration forced a ceasefire under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that required the disarmament of Hezbollah and its replacement by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and a United Nations "peacekeeping" force. How can Hezbollah claim victory, President George W. Bush wondered, when they were "going to be replaced by a Lebanese Army and an international force?" The answer was quite obvious. The LAF and UNIFIL didn't replace Hezbollah, they were co-opted by it. And nearly two decades later, Hezbollah had far more firepower and attempted to launch its own version of Oct 7 until Israel neutered it with its pager operation.
Continue Reading Article
by Khaled Abu Toameh • February 19, 2025 at 5:00 am
One of the group's senior officials, Osama Hamdan... also threatened that Hamas would not allow any non-Palestinian party to enter the Gaza Strip. Iran's ruling mullahs have already lost their strategic ally with the collapse of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. Losing the Gaza Strip would therefore be another severe blow to the Iranian regime, whose declared goal is to annihilate the "Zionist entity." Similarly, Hamas's longtime patrons and funders in Qatar will do their utmost to ensure that the terrorist group remains in power. Hamdan's statements are a clear indication that Hamas intends to maintain its control of the Gaza Strip at any cost. They are also a sign that Hamas is determined to continue its terror attacks against Israel. Any deal that allows Hamas to remain in power would be disastrous for Israel, the Palestinians, and Arab states threatened by the Iran-led "Axis of Resistance." It would also undermine the Trump administration's credibility in the eyes of many in the Middle East. The Trump administration will appear as if it is only good at making empty threats. There should be no reconstruction of the Gaza Strip as long as Iran's proxies remain in power. The idea of allowing the Palestinian Authority to return to the Gaza Strip as a civilian body that pays salaries and funds projects should be rejected by the Trump administration. Even if the PA is permitted to deploy its own security forces in the Gaza Strip, it does not mean that they would be able to disarm Hamas and other terrorist groups. The PA did not do so when it was in control of the Gaza Strip between 1994 and 2007, and the assumption that it would do so now is catastrophically wrong.
Any deal that allows Hamas to remain in power would be disastrous for Israel, the Palestinians, and Arab states threatened by the Iran-led "Axis of Resistance." It would also undermine the Trump administration's credibility in the eyes of many in the Middle East. Pictured: Terrorists in Gaza on February 15, 2025. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has reportedly expressed readiness to cede control of the Gaza Strip and hand it over to the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by Mahmoud Abbas. This assurance, however, does not mean that Hamas is willing to lay down its weapons or dismantle its military wing, Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas wants the PA to return to the Gaza Strip only to pay salaries and fund various projects, including the reconstruction of the devastation. That arrangement would still exempt Hamas of its duties and responsibilities towards the two million residents of the Gaza Strip and allow the terror group to rearm, regroup and rebuild its military capabilities.
Continue Reading Article
by Daniel Greenfield • February 18, 2025 at 5:00 am
[T]he ultimate responsibility lay with USAID. The $40 million on the tarmac was part of a much larger scheme under which USAID and the State Department provided over $1.7 billion in funding to the UN, which then shipped $2.9 billion in cash to Afghanistan. Under the guise of humanitarian needs, $1.7 billion was provided to the UN, which used some of the money to buy dollars to fly into Afghanistan, to trade for Afghan currency, which the U.S. had also arranged to have printed on behalf of the Taliban. The cash is not provided to the Taliban or DAB by the UN, but by the groups funded by the UN. During the intermediate step, DAB held "auctions" of the dollars which elements linked to the Taliban, including the Haqqani network allied with Al Qaeda, reportedly "win." The auctions prop up the Afghan currency and keep the Taliban in power. Putting the money into UN pooled accounts allowed USAID to claim that they "do not provide assistance to or through the Taliban", they just put money into "pooled UN accounts..." The State Department responded to these revelations by falsely claiming that there are no sanctions on Afghanistan, that banks refuse to carry out wire transfers because of "the lack of profitability" and that "to the best of our knowledge, no electronic financial delivery systems are currently scalable to meet the liquidity needs of the UN" requiring it to instead convert billions of dollars into paper notes and ship them by plane. None of this is true or even a plausible lie. The Taliban money laundering scheme was not an exception. It was how USAID, the State Department and the UN have operated for too long, not only in Afghanistan, but in Syria, Yemen, Gaza and many other terrorist areas around the world, using plausible deniability and chains of organizations to avoid accountability and direct responsibility for aiding terrorists. Americans have become the financiers of their worst enemies. It's time for that to stop.
The Taliban money laundering scheme was not an exception. It was how USAID, the State Department and the UN have operated for too long, not only in Afghanistan, but in Syria, Yemen, Gaza and many other terrorist areas around the world, using plausible deniability and chains of organizations to avoid accountability and direct responsibility for aiding terrorists. Pictured: Money changers count US dollars and afghani banknotes in Kabul, Afghanistan on December 7, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP via Getty Images)
In 2022, the DAB Afghanistan Bank showed off photos of $40 million in stacks of hundred dollar bills sitting on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport. The Taliban-controlled central bank described this as one of three shipments of "humanitarian aid" amounting to over $100 million. DAB, Afghanistan's central bank, was headed by Noor Ahmad Agha, a "specially designated terrorist" who had been named as the "financier of bomb-making", including the IEDs which had killed over 1,000 American soldiers, and sending money to a sanctioned figure was illegal. Despite that, someone had sent a massive fortune in U.S. cash to the Taliban's terror bank.
Continue Reading Article
by Bassam Tawil • February 17, 2025 at 5:00 am
"Abbas claims to have ended the 'Pay for Slay' program – but it's just a rebranding... Terrorists and their families will still receive payments, just through a 'foundation' under Abbas's control instead of a ministry. The new foundation remains tied to the PA, making this a deceptive move, not real reform. The PA must truly end terror payments and incitement - not just change how they guise them." — Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, X.com, February 12, 2025. The Palestinian Authority has made it clear that it is making this change not because it believes it is wrong to fund terror, but because it needs US money. The Arabic version of the decree clearly states that the main goal is to "restore international aid programs that were suspended in the past years, which we need to implement development and economic recovery programs." While several international media outlets continue to argue that Abbas halted the payments to the terrorists, Monica al-Jaghoub, a senior official with the PA's ruling Fatah faction (headed by Abbas), denied the claims. The reality is that Abbas did not -- and never will -- stop the payments to terrorists and their families.
Did Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas halt payments to Palestinian terrorists and their families? Or is he just trying to fool the Americans to persuade them to resume financial aid to the PA? The reality is that Abbas did not -- and never will -- stop the payments to terrorists and their families. Pictured: On July 23, 2018, at a ceremony honoring Palestinian terrorists, Abbas said: "We will neither reduce nor withhold the allowances of the families of martyrs, prisoners, and released prisoners... if we had one single penny left, we would spend it on the families of the martyrs and the prisoners." (Image source: MEMRI) Did Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas halt payments to Palestinian terrorists and their families? Or is he just trying to fool the Americans to persuade them to resume financial aid to the PA? On February 10, the American media outlet Axios reported: "Abbas has issued a decree revoking the system of payments to families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails or to families of Palestinians who were killed or wounded during attacks against Israelis."
The payment program is known as "Pay for Slay." PA officials told Axios that they hope Abbas's decision will improve relations with the Trump administration and with Congress and lead to the resumption of US financial aid to the PA.
Continue Reading Article
by Robert Williams • February 16, 2025 at 5:00 am
Sudan's Growing Crisis: Famine, Displacement, and Unprecedented Suffering Stopping Iran's growing foothold in Africa is not just about Israel's security — it's about protecting U.S. economic and military interests. The consequences of inaction will be felt at home, from higher energy prices to increased global instability. The time to act is now. "The war has lasted too long, cost too many lives, and caused immense suffering. What we seek to do, alongside our partners, is call for a humanitarian pause to allow aid to reach those in need." — Reem al-Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, February 14, 2025. Iran is establishing another Hamas-like entity in Sudan, mirroring its creation of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces. This group, known as "Kizan," maintains ties to Hamas, Hezbollah, and African branches of Al Qaeda. If Iran's allies gain full control over Sudan, Iran will have effectively tightened its grip on Israel's southern flank, adding yet another hostile front to the region. The Biden administration's failure to act decisively has emboldened Iran and endangered both Israel and American strategic interests. President Donald Trump, as a leader committed to restoring U.S. strength, must confront the Iranian infiltration in Sudan head-on. [I]t is imperative that Trump - for US interests! - publicly recognize the efforts of Al Nahyan in advancing this vision, acknowledging his leadership and unwavering dedication to peace and prosperity in the region.
The UAE has taken a significant step in alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people by announcing a $200 million aid package, in a high-level humanitarian conference held in Ethiopia. Pictured: Humanitarian aid supplies destined for Sudan are loaded onto a cargo plane in Dubai, UAE on May 8, 2023. (Photo by Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images)
Amid Ongoing Humanitarian Crisis, Addis Ababa, February 14, 2025: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken a significant step in alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people by announcing a $200 million aid package, in a high-level humanitarian conference held in Addis Ababa. The conference, organized by the UAE in collaboration with the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and Ethiopia, is taking place on the sidelines of the 38th African Union Summit. A Call for Action: Mobilizing Support for Sudan's Dire Humanitarian Needs
Continue Reading Article
by Amir Taheri • February 16, 2025 at 4:00 am
No Middle Eastern nation would unroll the red carpet for an Iranian delegation coming to foment revolution. In Europe, even those who once did seek the mullahs now shun them with disdain. No one in Asia expresses an interest in seeking revolutionary instruction from Tehran. Tehran hopes to act as Man-Friday to its two giant allies China and Russia that have also chosen Africa as the future battleground against Western hegemony. For almost three decades, Tehran spent over $30 billion exporting revolution and ended up with nothing. In the process, hundreds of individuals, including the late Gen. Qassem Soleimani and associates like Nasrallah and Bashar al-Assad, made huge sums of money. With that gambit closed, we witness new efforts to keep the gravy train on rail, this time with destination Africa.
Tehran hopes to act as Man-Friday to its two giant allies China and Russia that have also chosen Africa as the future battleground against Western hegemony. Pictured: Then Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrives for a state visit at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe on July 13, 2023. (Photo by Jekesai Nijikizana/AFP via Getty Images)
Imagine that you have between $3 to $5 billion to spend on seeking and securing clients for your product in a variety of markets, Not bad, eh? But what happens when events beyond your ken suddenly close those markets to you? One solution is to try and develop new products capable of making inroads in different markets. Another is to seek new markets for the old product. This is the conundrum that the ruling mullahs in Tehran face today. Thanks to the late Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, who opened the gates of hell on October 7, 2023, Tehran, a self-designated exporter of revolution, lost its markets not only in Gaza and the West Bank but also in Lebanon and Iraq. Then it was the turn of the then unknown Ahmad al-Sharaa to cakewalk his way into Damascus and force the peddlers of Khomeinist revolution to run for cover. Next, the Khomeinist product lost its market share in Iraq and the chunk of Yemen held by Houthis.
Continue Reading Article
by Majid Rafizadeh • February 15, 2025 at 5:00 am
The problem, of course, is that after seeing what happened when Libya's General Muammar Ghaddafi gave up nuclear weapons in 2003 and Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons in 1994, no one with an IQ above single digits would ever agree to give up nuclear weapons again – especially after so many decades of immense investment and just "weeks" from the project's successful completion. Regrettably, like Russia, Iran has a long track record of deceit, obstructing investigations, and stalling to buy time. Iran's regime also has the potential to wait four years until Trump's term in office is over, then pick up where it left off. The mullahs seek to lull the United States into a false sense of security. They undoubtedly hope that diplomatic engagement will allow them time to race to nuclear weapons breakout, or, at worst, another weak agreement that will enable them to rebuild their military. Whenever Iran gains financial or political leverage, it uses it against America and its allies. Since October 2023, Iran and its proxies have attacked US troops in the region more than 200 times. Iran's nuclear facilities must be taken out, sanctions must be intensified, and the Iranian people's fight for freedom must be supported. Trump must not waste this opportunity.
Iran's nuclear facilities must be taken out, sanctions must be intensified, and the Iranian people's fight for freedom must be supported. Trump must not waste this opportunity. Pictured: A Fattah hypersonic ballistic missile is displayed during the annual military parade in Tehran, on September 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
"I want Iran to be a great and successful country but one that cannot have nuclear weapons," US President Donald J, Trump posted on Truth Social last week. "I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement which will successfully let Iran grow and prosper." These sentiments, while commendable, especially considering a distasteful alternative for Iran, are unfortunately delusional. The problem, of course, is that after seeing what happened when Libya's General Muammar Ghaddafi gave up nuclear weapons in 2003 and Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons in 1994, no one with an IQ above single digits would ever agree to give up nuclear weapons again – especially after so many decades of immense investment and just "weeks" from the project's successful completion.
Continue Reading Article
by Nils A. Haug • February 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
Zionism is simply the right of the Jewish nation to live peacefully in its ancestral home -- the land promised them in millennia past. Canaan is their inheritance, and has served as their sanctuary for nearly 4,000 years in a world that largely despises them. The great British statesman Winston Churchill said in 1922 that Jews had returned to Palestine, as it was called then -- based on its revised name, given by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was trying to sever Judea from the Jews -- "as of right and not by sufferance, and that this was based on their ancient historical connection." The biblical Song of Deborah praises those tribes who participated in the battle under the leadership of Barak, the son of Abinoam, and scorns those who did not: "Why did you sit at home among the sheepfolds?" the song asks; "Why did Dan stay home?"
The great British statesman Winston Churchill said in 1922 that Jews had returned to Palestine, as it was called then -- based on its revised name, given by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was trying to sever Judea from the Jews -- "as of right and not by sufferance, and that this was based on their ancient historical connection." Pictured: Prime Minister Churchill makes a speech on the radio for VE Day, on May 8, 1945. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
"Even an ancient vision has its moment of birth," wrote the Israeli poet Nathan Alterman (1910-1970). Alterman lovingly described Israel: "The surroundings of the Kinneret have been a kind of symbol of earthly beauty to us...." Alterman's vision of Israel, Eretz Yisrael, and her natural beauty, seems to have been given birth through a deep commitment to an ancient promise made by the Creator to the patriarch Abraham, forefather of all Jews. This covenant was repeated to his son Isaac and then grandson Jacob, again by the Creator. Moses emphasized this promise at Sinai when he declared to the twelve tribes that G-d would restore to them the land of their ancestors. In this way, the area to be possessed became known to the world at large as the "promised land." The biblical book of Bereshit (Genesis) records the extent of the land, Zion.
Continue Reading Article
Resettling Gaza
Is it the right thing to do and can it work? Yes it can.
by Daniel Greenfield • February 13, 2025 at 5:00 am
Many, if not most, "peace plans" propose the further resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Jews living in Judea and Samaria to make way for a "Palestinian" state. Even as they object to resettling Gazan Muslims in Arab countries, they refer to Jews living in the "West Bank" as settlers, refer to their communities as "settlements," and propose that they be resettled elsewhere. The same people who insist that it's morally wrong and impractical to resettle 2 million Muslims out of Gaza also argue that it's morally right and practical to resettle nearly half a million Jews.... Despite being told it was impossible, Israelis evacuated hundreds of thousands of Gazans to make way for military operations. During the beginning of the war, around one million Gazans left the north for the south of the Gaza Strip, and the UN would later claim that as many as 1.5 million Muslim settlers in Gaza had been displaced. The resettlement of large numbers of "Palestinians" has happened before in the Middle East. While the resettlement of Gaza would take place on a larger scale, it would not be that much larger than the resettlements during the war or in the aftermath of the Gulf War. The objections to it [resettlement], both moral and practical, are groundless. Resettlement is feasible and moral. If the Kuwaitis and the Jordanians could resettle the "Palestinians" out of their countries on far less grounds than the atrocities of Oct 7, the Israelis certainly have the right to do it. The PLO and Hamas used terrorism at every turn to press for more Israeli concessions while giving nothing in return. Their leaders have said again and again that they intend to destroy Israel. After Oct 7, everyone is finally taking them at their word.
The same people who insist that it's morally wrong and impractical to resettle 2 million Muslims out of Gaza also argue that it's morally right and practical to resettle nearly half a million Jews. Pictured: A car loaded with mattresses drives through Gaza on February 1, 2025. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
After President Donald Trump proposed resettling the Arab Muslim settlers currently living in Gaza, there was an outbreak of furious objections from politicians, activists and media outlets. The objections could be roughly divided into the moral and the practical. The "moral" objection was that it is "wrong" to resettle the population currently occupying Gaza, and the "practical" objection was that it would be impossible to accomplish. Both objections do not hold up. The Jewish population of Gaza was resettled twice, once after the Egyptian invasion and conquest of Gaza during the 1948-49 War of Independence, and the second time after the 2005 "disengagement" forcibly eliminated 21 Jewish communities and expelled families living there. Not only did politicians and the media not object to the forcible removal of the Jewish communities of Gaza, but they celebrated it as a step forward for peace in the region.
Continue Reading Article
by Gordon G. Chang • February 12, 2025 at 5:00 am
President Trump, according to reports, wants to go to Beijing in his first hundred days and reach a bargain with China. Unfortunately, an enduring accommodation with the Chinese regime is not possible. China is not done killing with disease. Driven by these beliefs [replacing the Westphalian order of sovereign states with the Chinese imperial-era system], the Chinese regime has always thought it had the right to do whatever it wanted to others. Try as Americans might, they will never have amicable relations with China as long as it is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. There can be only one survivor, either the People's Republic of China or the United States of America.
China is not done killing with disease. Researchers at the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology are now studying Ebola, undoubtedly to weaponize it. Try as Americans might, they will never have amicable relations with China as long as it is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. There can be only one survivor, either the People's Republic of China or the United States of America. Pictured: A laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in Wuhan, China. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)
President Trump, according to reports, wants to go to Beijing in his first hundred days and reach a bargain with China. Unfortunately, an enduring accommodation with the Chinese regime is not possible. Why not? For one thing, the Communist Party of China (CCP) appears determined to kill every person in the United States. A quarter-century ago, General Chi Haotian, China's defense minister and vice chairman of the CCP's Central Military Commission, reportedly gave a secret speech advocating the extermination of Americans. "It is indeed brutal to kill one or two hundred million Americans," he said. "But that is the only path that will secure a Chinese century, a century in which the Communist Party leads the world." Chi's plan was to use disease to clear out the vast spaces of North America so that the Chinese people could settle in the areas left uninhabited.
Continue Reading Article
by Khaled Abu Toameh • February 11, 2025 at 5:00 am
The Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas and other Palestinians on October 7, 2023 could have been released a long time ago had the Biden administration exerted pressure on Qatar to use its good relations with the Islamist group to force it to do so. All Qatar had to do was to summon the Hamas leaders in Doha and give them an ultimatum to release all the hostages immediately or face deportation from the Gulf state. It is hard to see how the Hamas leaders would have been able to say no to their major political and financial patrons and backers.... The Qataris were never under the slightest pressure. "For years, Qatar supported the Taliban, and last year [2021] it helped it in its coup against the democratically elected Afghan government, and 13 American service members were killed in the violence. Today, Qatar is doing everything it can to give the Taliban international legitimacy and aid." — Yigal Carmon, President and founder of the MEMRI, who served as counterterrorism advisor to two Israeli prime ministers, Haaretz, May 10, 2022. "Any Arab who hears American officials say that Qatar is America's ally would burst into laughter.... Ask Egypt, not just the rulers, but the people and journalists. Ask the Emirates, the government and people. Ask Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan. They all know that for decades Qatar has been promoting Islamist and terrorist organizations. There are lawsuits against Qatar in the U.S. and Europe in connection with its support for terrorism." — Yigal Carmon, MEMRI, November 1, 2023 The Trump administration needs to understand what Arabs have known for years: that Qatar's support for Hamas and other extremist Islamist groups is the main reason thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have died over the past few years.
Qatar is Hamas's most important financial backer and foreign ally. Then Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani was the first state leader to visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in 2012. Qatar, in addition, has reportedly transferred $1.8 billion to Hamas over the past two decades. Pictured: Al-Thani holds hands with then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during his visit to the Islamic University in the Gaza Strip on October 23, 2012. (Photo by Wissam Nassar/AFP via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump's recent statements regarding Qatar's role in reaching the Israel-Hamas ceasefire-hostage deal surprised many, especially those who are familiar with the Gulf state's longtime support for radical Islamist groups. "Qatar is absolutely trying to help," Trump told reporters in Washington. "I know them well, and they're doing everything they can. Very tough situation, but they're absolutely trying to help." Many other people also know Qatar very well. They know, for example, that Qatar is Hamas's most important financial backer and foreign ally. Then Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani was the first state leader to visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in 2012. Qatar, in addition, has reportedly transferred $1.8 billion to Hamas over the past two decades. For many years, Qatar hosted several leaders of Hamas, including Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh. They lived in hotels and villas in Doha and were treated as heads of state.
Continue Reading Article
by Lawrence Kadish • February 11, 2025 at 4:00 am
We know China is investing enormous sums into fusion energy research that seeks to create a sustained reaction that would be channeled to create unlimited electricity. America must create technology that is far superior to China's tokamak fusion reactors. Pictured: China's HL-2M nuclear fusion device, at a research laboratory in Chengdu, on December 4, 2020. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)
America's next great economic revolution -- to be spearheaded by President Donald J. Trump -- is currently being studied by the preeminent polling firm, John McLaughlin Associates. A poll will investigate America's next great economic and technological frontier: clean, limitless, inexpensive energy through nuclear fusion by a made in America nuclear reactor superior to China's tokamak. This new 21st Century Manhattan Project would entail a trailblazing, all-out effort to compete against Communist China, already investing billions into this field. Just as President Franklin D. Roosevelt headed the original Manhattan Project, when America raced to develop a nuclear weapon before scientists in Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan could unlock its enormous deadly power and use it against the Allies in World War II, Trump could usher in a new Clean Controlled Fusion Energy Revolution.
Continue Reading Article
by Lawrence A. Franklin • February 10, 2025 at 5:00 am
If the US fails to support its ally by treaty, the Philippines, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda machine and Chinese diplomats will likely seek to sow doubts about US resolve into the capitals of America's Pacific allies. China seems to claim a lot of waters, such as "almost all" of the South China Sea, as well as land, including Tibet; Arunachal Pradesh in northern India; the "near-Arctic," and Taiwan, which has never been part of mainland China. The Trump administration immediately needs to short-circuit all "exploratory" moves by China. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth might order Seventh Fleet and US Pacific Command's air assets to strengthen their presence near the Philippines and the Pacific. Any firm message to China that America will stand by its allies throughout free Asia would be of help.
The Trump administration immediately needs to short-circuit all "exploratory" moves by China. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth might order Seventh Fleet and US Pacific Command's air assets to strengthen their presence near the Philippines and the Pacific. Any firm message to China that America will stand by its allies throughout free Asia would be of help. Pictured: J15 fighter jets on China's Liaoning aircraft carrier during a drill at sea, in April 2018. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
The "Tariff Wars" have begun. China's State Council Tariff Commission released a list of 72 items that would fall under the 10% tariffs. Much of that list was related to agriculture, including several types of tractors, harvesters and other large pieces of farming equipment. The list of U.S. imports that will be subject to 15% tariffs was far shorter, listing just eight types of coal and natural gas. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) President Xi Jinping might gin up further crises to test the mettle of President Donald J. Trump, just as he has tested the resolve of all recent incoming administrations.
Continue Reading Article
by Nils A. Haug • February 9, 2025 at 5:00 am
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism." — Senior PLO official Zuheir Mohsen, interviewed by James Dorsey, Trouw, March 31, 1977. Jordan... actually was in possession of Jerusalem, if illegally, between 1948 and the 1967 Six-Day War. Jordan nevertheless, the first day of the war, insisted on joining the other Arab countries in attacking Israel, even though General Moshe Dayan had warned Jordan's King Hussein at the time to stay out of it.... The Al-Aqsa Mosque would therefore have been constructed six years after Muhamad's death: c. 570- June 8, 632 CE.
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism." — Senior PLO official Zuheir Mohsen, interviewed by James Dorsey, Trouw, March 31, 1977. Pictured: Mohsen in 1975. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
While Islamism can be understood as an extremist political and ideological facet of Islam, Palestinianism comprises a narrow ideological expression of such Islamism. In particular, Palestinianism can be regarded as a subset of the broader jihadist Islamist agenda; one of its "action-arms" so to speak. On the world stage and promoted by the legacy media, the Palestinian issue is relentlessly and often callously exploited by ruthless jihadist Islamists and their sympathizers, despite the immense suffering of many innocent civilians from both parties to the conflict. It is the gross misuse of the Palestinian people's predicament for tactical purposes that has led to the fabricated ideology of Palestinianism. Admittedly, the Islamist propaganda "machine" has been partially successful in persuading the West as to the justice, however fabricated, of the Palestinian cause.
Continue Reading Article
by Amir Taheri • February 9, 2025 at 4:00 am
In a year or so, Khamenei has tried to repackage those setbacks as great victories for his now defunct "Axis of Resistance." His assumption was that if the worst came to the worst, he would play his joker: signaling readiness to revive the defunct Obama "nuclear deal" with a shaky Biden administration keen on securing any deal with Tehran to justify Kumbala's "greatest diplomatic achievement." Here is the ayatollah's latest masterpiece:
Iranian "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's great masterpiece.
After weeks of speculation about "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei's strategy for dealing with the new Trump administration in Washington, it seems that he has opted for a cocktail of tantalizing pledges and boastful threats. Tehran circles sum the posture up with a simple formula advanced by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi: We don't want war but are ready for it! The signal that the Supreme Guide has decided to authorize new talks about his nuclear project but is also preparing for a putative war with the US or Israel came with a poem he put in circulation last week. Khamenei has been writing or, as his unkind critics suggest, committing poetry since he was in his teens in the 1950s. But he has always been reluctant to offer his oeuvre to the public, refusing to publish a diwan as even the greenest saplings in the garden do.
Continue Reading Article
|
