Freedom and a Civil Society
There have been many times in American history where political battles have become very heated. When plantation owner, Charles Dickinson, accused future
president, Andrew Jackson, of cheating on a horse race bet and committing adultery by marrying Rachel Jackson (who had been abandoned by her previous husband), the matter was resolved by a duel to the death. Another example of violence is when Preston Brooks
severely beat Charles Sumner with a cane on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
We may be living in a time of little bloodshed in politics, but the verbal strife is clearly at an all-time-high. In the last exchange between Jackson
and Dickinson one was called a poltroon (a spiritless coward), while the other a blackguard (the lowest kitchen servant of a household).
Today, we have people willing to say any form of profanity their minds can conceive about President Trump. So-called comedians have saturated their public
venues with crude remarks about our president, which include having sexual relations with his daughter; that his son is mentally challenged, and he is Putin's homosexual lover.
What is stunning is how once sophisticated news organizations have stooped to the low standards of tabloid publications. The endless cycle of printing
anything that is negative about President Trump has resulted in headlines that read like schoolyard taunts:
Germany Can't Stop Marveling at How Dumb Donald Trump Is
Even Trump Senior Staff Believes He's a "Complete Moron"
Bernie Sanders: Trump's Budget Is Immoral
President Trump Is Thought to be an Idiot
Robert Reich: Our European Allies Are Appalled by Trump
Taran Killam Says Trump was a "Moron" as SNL Host
Members of the media are not allowed to be pacifists in the war against President Trump. The Tonight Show's host, Jimmy Fallon, had Trump on his show
last year. After a very long period of contemplation, the press decided that Fallon made a horrible mistake in not being confrontational with Trump. Network executives have badgered Fallon into apologizing for his past sin. If you tune into the program and
hear the president being mocked in the monologue, that is the result of Jimmy doing penance to save his job.
There are times when someone is scolded for going too far in mocking President Trump. Third-rate comedian, Kathy Griffin, was rebuked when she posed
for a photo shoot holding an effigy of Donald Trump's bloody and detached head. During the photo shoot, Kathy joked that she would need to move to Mexico once the picture was released, for fear she would be thrown in prison.
Griffin lost a New Year's Eve gig on CNN over the photo, but I doubt there will be any lasting impact on her career. She was rebuked for cursing at Jesus
during the 2007 Emmy Awards ceremony, but within a few months the blasphemy issue was totally forgotten.
I think these occasional outrages are used to try to maintain credibility with the public. The media will throw someone like Griffin under the bus as
a convenient scapegoat, and then continue their attacks.
It is a very dangerous thing to have open hostility between the media and the head of state. When you have a battle between the media and government,
the politicians always win because they have the guns, and federal prosecution power. The effectiveness of the hostile tactics of the press fall completely flat when opposition reporters are rotting in jail.
The press has the attitude that President Trump does not have any power to ward off their attacks against him. If they already have him pegged as the
new Hitler, things can hardly get any worse for him. When you have a country become totally polarized, media harassment can emerge from many sources. In most South American nations, upsetting the police, the military, local politicians, or drug lords can be
hazardous to a reporter's health.
There are signs that the verbal warfare between the right and left are veering toward physical clashes. A Republican leader in Oregon says the party may
use private militias to protect GOP officials. The newly elected representative of Montana triggered outrage when he body slammed a reporter. In the Texas state capital, a shoving match nearly turned into a fistfight over a sanctuary cities ban.
You can't have freedom without a civil society. Without mutual respect you end up with a vicious struggle for power by any means. There is such a strong
level of delusion in the media today, I fear we are about to find out how quickly are first amendment rights can vanish.
"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in
authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" (1 Timothy 2).
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0617/glick060917.php3
US President Donald Trump has been attacked by his ubiquitous critics for his apparent about-face on the crisis surrounding Qatar.
In a Twitter post on Tuesday, Trump sided firmly with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the other Sunni states that cut diplomatic ties
with Qatar and instituted an air and land blockade of the sheikhdom on Monday.
On Wednesday, Trump said that he hopes to mediate the dispute, more or less parroting the lines adopted by the State Department and the Pentagon which
his Twitter posts disputed the day before.
To understand the apparent turnaround and why it is both understandable and probably not an about-face, it is important to understand the forces at play
and the stakes involved in the Sunni Arab world's showdown with Doha.
Arguably, Qatar's role in undermining the stability of the Islamic world has been second only to Iran's.
Beginning in the 1995, after the Pars gas field was discovered and quickly rendered Qatar the wealthiest state in the world, the Qatari regime set about
undermining the Sunni regimes of the Arab world by among other things, waging a propaganda war against them and against their US ally and by massively funding terrorism.
The Qatari regime established Al Jazeera in 1996.
Despite its frequent denials, the regime has kept tight control on Al Jazeera's messaging. That messaging has been unchanging since the network's founding.
The pan-Arab satellite station which reaches hundreds of millions of households in the region and worldwide, opposes the US's allies in the Sunni Arab world. It supports the Muslim Brotherhood and every terrorist group spawned by it. It supports Iran and Hezbollah.
Al Jazeera is viciously anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.
It serves as a propaganda arm not only of al-Qaida and Hezbollah but of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and any other group that attacks the US, Israel, Europe and
other Western targets.
Al Jazeera's reporters have accompanied Hamas and Taliban forces in their wars against Israel and the US. After Israel released Hezbollah arch-terrorist
Samir Kuntar from prison in exchange for the bodies of two IDF reservists, Al Jazeera's Beirut bureau hosted an on-air party in his honor.
Al Jazeera was at the forefront of the propaganda campaign inciting against then-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and against Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi in 2012. Its operations were widely credited with inciting their overthrow and installing in their places regimes controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and other jihadist groups.
As for the regime itself, it has massively financed jihadist groups for more than 20 years. Qatar is a major bankroller not only of al-Qaida and Hamas
but of militias associated with ISIS in Iraq and Syria. In a State Department cable from 2009 published by WikiLeaks, US diplomats referred to Qatar as the largest funder of terrorism in the world.
According to the Financial Times, the straw that broke the camel's back for the Saudis and their allies was their discovery that in April, Qatar paid
Iran, its Iraqi militias and al-Qaida forces in Syria up to a billion dollars to free members of the royal family held captive in southern Iraq and 50 terrorists held captive in Syria.
Given Qatar's destabilizing and pernicious role in the region and worldwide in everything related to terrorism funding and incitement, Trump's statement
on Tuesday in support of the Sunnis against Qatar was entirely reasonable. What can the US do other than stand by its allies as they seek to coerce Qatar to end its destabilizing and dangerous practices? The case for supporting the Saudis, Egyptians, the UAE
and the others against Qatar becomes all the more overwhelming given their demands.
The Sunnis are demanding that Qatar ditch its strategic alliance with Iran. They demand that Qatar end its financial support for terrorist groups and
they demand that Qatar expel terrorists from its territory.
If Qatar is forced to abide by these demands, its abandonment of Iran in particular will constitute the single largest blow the regime in Tehran has absorbed
in recent memory. Among other things, Qatar serves as Iran's banker and diplomatic proxy.
If the story began and ended here, then Trump's anti-Qatari stance would have been the obvious and only move. Beyond being the right thing to do, if Qatar's
regime is overthrown or emasculated, the development would mark the most significant achievement to date against the Iranian axis of jihad.
Unfortunately, the situation is not at all simple.
First there is the problem of Doha's relations with key Americans and American institutions.
Ahead of the 2016 US elections, WikiLeaks published documents which disclosed that the emir of Qatar presented Bill Clinton with a $1 million check for
the Clinton Foundation as a gift for his 65th birthday. During Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, Qatar reportedly contributed some $6m. to the Clinton Foundation.
Clinton, for her part, was deeply supportive of the regime and of Al Jazeera. For instance, in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
in 2011, Clinton praised Al Jazeera for its leading role in fomenting and expanding the protests in Egypt that brought down Mubarak.
Clinton wasn't the only one that Qatar singled out for generosity. Since the 1990s, Qatar has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in US universities.
Six major US universities have campuses in Doha.
Then there is the Brookings Institution. The premier US think tank had a revolving door relationship with the Obama and Clinton administrations.
In 2014, The New York Times reported that Brookings, which opened a branch in Doha in 2002, had received millions of dollars in contributions from Qatar.
In 2013 alone, the Qatari regime contributed $14.8 million to Brookings.
Not surprisingly, Brookings' scholars supported the overthrow of Mubarak, and supported the Muslim Brotherhood regime during its year in power. Brookings
scholars urged the Obama administration to cut off military assistance to Egypt after the military overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.
Brookings scholars have similarly written sympathetically of Qatar and its ally Turkey. As the Investigative Project on Terrorism revealed in a four-part
series on Brookings' relations with Qatar in 2014, Brookings' scholars ignored human rights abuses by Qatar and praised Turkey's Erdogan regime as behaving like the US in enabling religion to have a role in public life.
It is likely that given then-president Barack Obama's strategic goal of reorienting US Middle East policy away from its traditional Sunni allies and Israel
toward Iran and its allies in Qatar and Turkey, that Brookings, Clinton and other beneficiaries of Qatar's generosity were simply knocking on an open door. Indeed, in 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, the Obama administration's alliance with Qatar, Turkey
and Iran against Sunnis and Israel came out of the shadows.
During the Hamas war with Israel, Obama sought to dislodge Egypt from its traditional role as mediator between Israel and Hamas and replace it with Qatar
and Turkey. For their part, both regimes, which fund and support Hamas, accepted all of Hamas's cease-fire demands against Israel and Egypt. As their partner, the Obama administration also supported Hamas's demands.
Had Egypt and Israel bowed to those demands, Hamas would have achieved a strategic victory in its war against Israel and Egypt. To avoid buckling to US
pressure, Egypt built a coalition with the same states that are now leading the charge against Qatar - Saudi Arabia and the UAE - and openly supported Israel.
In the end, the standoff between the two sides caused the war to end in a draw. Hamas was not dismantled, but it failed to secure Israeli or Egyptian
acceptance of any of its demands for open borders and access to the international banking system.
Given that Trump is not aligned with Brookings, the Clinton Foundation or US academia, it could be argued that he is not beholden to Qatari money in any
way.
But unfortunately, they are not the only beneficiaries of Qatari largesse.
There is also the Pentagon.
In the 1990s, Qatar spent more than $1b. constructing the Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha.
It is the most sophisticated air force base in the region. In 2003, the base replaced Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base as headquarters for the US
military's Central Command. Since 2003, all US operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are controlled from the base.
Following Trump's Twitter postings, the Pentagon was quick to say that operations at Al Udeid base had not been influenced by the crisis between Qatar
and its neighbors. The Pentagon spokesman refused to say whether or not Qatar sponsors terrorism.
Instead, Capt. Chris Davis stated, "I consider them a host to our very important base at Al Udeid." He commended Qatar for hosting US forces and for its
"enduring commitment to regional security."
Also on Tuesday, according to the Egyptian media, Iran deployed Revolutionary Guard Corps forces to Doha to protect the emir and his palace.
On Wednesday, Turkey's parliament voted to empower Erdogan to deploy forces to Qatar to protect the regime.
The moves by Qatar's allies Iran and Turkey significantly raise the stakes in the contest of wills now at play between Qatar and its Sunni neighbors and
adversaries.
With Iranian forces guarding the palace and the emir, the possibility of a bloodless coup inside the Al Thani family has been significantly diminished.
Any move against the emir will raise the prospect of an open war with Iran.
So, too, if Egypt and Saudi Arabia invade or otherwise attack Qatar, with or without US support, the US risks seeing its Arab allies at war with its NATO
ally Turkey.
Under the circumstances, Trump's refusal to endorse Article 5 of the NATO treaty during his speech in Brussels appears wise and well-considered.
Article 5 states that an attack against one NATO ally represents an attack against all NATO allies.
With the Pentagon dependent on the Qatari base, and with no clear path for unseating the emir through war or coup without risking a much larger and more
dangerous conflict, the only clear option is a negotiated resolution.
Under the circumstances, the best the US can probably work toward openly is a diminishment of Qatar's regional profile and financial support for Iran
and its terrorist allies and proxies. Hence, Trump's announcement on Wednesday that he will mediate the conflict.
However, in the medium and long term, Trump's statement on Twitter made clear his ultimate goal.
Comey this, Comey that, Comey, Comey, Comey-the news reports on the James Comey testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee are beginning to sound like
some sort of rock and roll song. I wasn't going to write any more on this, but there is no choice. This whole thing with Comey and his testimony is a dog and pony show on the biggest stage in the world showing how hypocritical and petty the Washington, D.C.
political machine has become. It never was wonderfully honorable, but the hype aimed at destroying reputations and providing high-drama for political gain is held at the public expense of taxpayers over the insinuation and innuendo of political hack James
Comey. It's embarrassing.
The one new revelation that came from the testimony of this Democratic Party operative and 5th Estate power monger is that Comey revealed just how underhanded
the political tactics become when someone feels their power is threatened. He gave America insight into the shenanigans by admitting that he used a close friend of his-Columbia law professor Daniel Richman-to leak the content of his memos to himself to the
New York Times in hope of triggering the appointment of a special counsel. What he did was write up his own (hear biased or politically motivated opinion) account of his private meetings with President Donald Trump and leaked them through a second party to
the New York Times with hopes of undermining Trump's presidency.
That's the motive. It is not what the leftist news media will report, but it is-take it from a former political operative-how hardball is played. At the
same time Comey is admitting to this underhanded chicanery, he also testified that he couldn't say whether Trump's request to shut down the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was an obstruction of justice. He said this issue was
for a special counsel to determine. This is another political tactic to undermine Trump's presidency-answer a leading question without saying a law was broken, but imply that it was. The news picks up on it, and the reputation of the target suffers in the
public irrespective of whether it is true or false.
So far, the Democrats are winning in their media war against Trump. They have a special counsel appointed. An investigation is underway even though top
Democrats say there is no evidence of wrongdoing. The witch hunt is aired in the public daily, undermining the public confidence in the presidency. And that is the goal-to make it so Trump cannot implement his agenda. It's a strategy of the coup. As long as
the notion of wrongdoing is pounded into the public's minds, the strategy of this revolution is succeeding. As Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Don't forget it. This spiritual wickedness is very persuasive and can cause even the elect to misstep.
- Todd Strandberg -
http://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ There have been many times in American history where political battles have become very heated. When plantation owner, Charles Dickinson, accused future
president, Andrew Jackson, of cheating on a horse race bet and committing adultery by marrying Rachel Jackson (who had been abandoned by her previous husband), the matter was resolved by a duel to the death. Another example of violence is when Preston Brooks
severely beat Charles Sumner with a cane on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
We may be living in a time of little bloodshed in politics, but the verbal strife is clearly at an all-time-high. In the last exchange between Jackson
and Dickinson one was called a poltroon (a spiritless coward), while the other a blackguard (the lowest kitchen servant of a household).
Today, we have people willing to say any form of profanity their minds can conceive about President Trump. So-called comedians have saturated their public
venues with crude remarks about our president, which include having sexual relations with his daughter; that his son is mentally challenged, and he is Putin's homosexual lover.
What is stunning is how once sophisticated news organizations have stooped to the low standards of tabloid publications. The endless cycle of printing
anything that is negative about President Trump has resulted in headlines that read like schoolyard taunts:
Germany Can't Stop Marveling at How Dumb Donald Trump Is
Even Trump Senior Staff Believes He's a "Complete Moron"
Bernie Sanders: Trump's Budget Is Immoral
President Trump Is Thought to be an Idiot
George R. R. Martin Likens Donald Trump To His Most Sadistic 'Game Of Thrones' Character
Robert Reich: Our European Allies Are Appalled by Trump
Taran Killam Says Trump was a "Moron" as SNL Host
Members of the media are not allowed to be pacifists in the war against President Trump. The Tonight Show's host, Jimmy Fallon, had Trump on his show
last year. After a very long period of contemplation, the press decided that Fallon made a horrible mistake in not being confrontational with Trump. Network executives have badgered Fallon into apologizing for his past sin. If you tune into the program and
hear the president being mocked in the monologue, that is the result of Jimmy doing penance to save his job.
There are times when someone is scolded for going too far in mocking President Trump. Third-rate comedian, Kathy Griffin, was rebuked when she posed
for a photo shoot holding an effigy of Donald Trump's bloody and detached head. During the photo shoot, Kathy joked that she would need to move to Mexico once the picture was released, for fear she would be thrown in prison.
Griffin lost a New Year's Eve gig on CNN over the photo, but I doubt there will be any lasting impact on her career. She was rebuked for cursing at Jesus
during the 2007 Emmy Awards ceremony, but within a few months the blasphemy issue was totally forgotten.
I think these occasional outrages are used to try to maintain credibility with the public. The media will throw someone like Griffin under the bus as
a convenient scapegoat, and then continue their attacks.
It is a very dangerous thing to have open hostility between the media and the head of state. When you have a battle between the media and government,
the politicians always win because they have the guns, and federal prosecution power. The effectiveness of the hostile tactics of the press fall completely flat when opposition reporters are rotting in jail.
The press has the attitude that President Trump does not have any power to ward off their attacks against him. If they already have him pegged as the
new Hitler, things can hardly get any worse for him. When you have a country become totally polarized, media harassment can emerge from many sources. In most South American nations, upsetting the police, the military, local politicians, or drug lords can be
hazardous to a reporter's health.
There are signs that the verbal warfare between the right and left are veering toward physical clashes. A Republican leader in Oregon says the party may
use private militias to protect GOP officials. The newly elected representative of Montana triggered outrage when he body slammed a reporter. In the Texas state capital, a shoving match nearly turned into a fistfight over a sanctuary cities ban.
You can't have freedom without a civil society. Without mutual respect you end up with a vicious struggle for power by any means. There is such a strong
level of delusion in the media today, I fear we are about to find out how quickly are first amendment rights can vanish.
"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in
authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" (1 Timothy 2).
Qatar, Trump and double games - By Caroline B. Glick -
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0617/glick060917.php3
What the shunning means and why the media is condemning rather than celebrating this historic move
US President Donald Trump has been attacked by his ubiquitous critics for his apparent about-face on the crisis surrounding Qatar.
In a Twitter post on Tuesday, Trump sided firmly with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the other Sunni states that cut diplomatic ties
with Qatar and instituted an air and land blockade of the sheikhdom on Monday.
On Wednesday, Trump said that he hopes to mediate the dispute, more or less parroting the lines adopted by the State Department and the Pentagon which
his Twitter posts disputed the day before.
To understand the apparent turnaround and why it is both understandable and probably not an about-face, it is important to understand the forces at play
and the stakes involved in the Sunni Arab world's showdown with Doha.
Arguably, Qatar's role in undermining the stability of the Islamic world has been second only to Iran's.
Beginning in the 1995, after the Pars gas field was discovered and quickly rendered Qatar the wealthiest state in the world, the Qatari regime set about
undermining the Sunni regimes of the Arab world by among other things, waging a propaganda war against them and against their US ally and by massively funding terrorism.
The Qatari regime established Al Jazeera in 1996.
Despite its frequent denials, the regime has kept tight control on Al Jazeera's messaging. That messaging has been unchanging since the network's founding.
The pan-Arab satellite station which reaches hundreds of millions of households in the region and worldwide, opposes the US's allies in the Sunni Arab world. It supports the Muslim Brotherhood and every terrorist group spawned by it. It supports Iran and Hezbollah.
Al Jazeera is viciously anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.
It serves as a propaganda arm not only of al-Qaida and Hezbollah but of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and any other group that attacks the US, Israel, Europe and
other Western targets.
Al Jazeera's reporters have accompanied Hamas and Taliban forces in their wars against Israel and the US. After Israel released Hezbollah arch-terrorist
Samir Kuntar from prison in exchange for the bodies of two IDF reservists, Al Jazeera's Beirut bureau hosted an on-air party in his honor.
Al Jazeera was at the forefront of the propaganda campaign inciting against then-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and against Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi in 2012. Its operations were widely credited with inciting their overthrow and installing in their places regimes controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and other jihadist groups.
As for the regime itself, it has massively financed jihadist groups for more than 20 years. Qatar is a major bankroller not only of al-Qaida and Hamas
but of militias associated with ISIS in Iraq and Syria. In a State Department cable from 2009 published by WikiLeaks, US diplomats referred to Qatar as the largest funder of terrorism in the world.
According to the Financial Times, the straw that broke the camel's back for the Saudis and their allies was their discovery that in April, Qatar paid
Iran, its Iraqi militias and al-Qaida forces in Syria up to a billion dollars to free members of the royal family held captive in southern Iraq and 50 terrorists held captive in Syria.
Given Qatar's destabilizing and pernicious role in the region and worldwide in everything related to terrorism funding and incitement, Trump's statement
on Tuesday in support of the Sunnis against Qatar was entirely reasonable. What can the US do other than stand by its allies as they seek to coerce Qatar to end its destabilizing and dangerous practices? The case for supporting the Saudis, Egyptians, the UAE
and the others against Qatar becomes all the more overwhelming given their demands.
The Sunnis are demanding that Qatar ditch its strategic alliance with Iran. They demand that Qatar end its financial support for terrorist groups and
they demand that Qatar expel terrorists from its territory.
If Qatar is forced to abide by these demands, its abandonment of Iran in particular will constitute the single largest blow the regime in Tehran has absorbed
in recent memory. Among other things, Qatar serves as Iran's banker and diplomatic proxy.
If the story began and ended here, then Trump's anti-Qatari stance would have been the obvious and only move. Beyond being the right thing to do, if Qatar's
regime is overthrown or emasculated, the development would mark the most significant achievement to date against the Iranian axis of jihad.
Unfortunately, the situation is not at all simple.
First there is the problem of Doha's relations with key Americans and American institutions.
Ahead of the 2016 US elections, WikiLeaks published documents which disclosed that the emir of Qatar presented Bill Clinton with a $1 million check for
the Clinton Foundation as a gift for his 65th birthday. During Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, Qatar reportedly contributed some $6m. to the Clinton Foundation.
Clinton, for her part, was deeply supportive of the regime and of Al Jazeera. For instance, in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
in 2011, Clinton praised Al Jazeera for its leading role in fomenting and expanding the protests in Egypt that brought down Mubarak.
Clinton wasn't the only one that Qatar singled out for generosity. Since the 1990s, Qatar has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in US universities.
Six major US universities have campuses in Doha.
Then there is the Brookings Institution. The premier US think tank had a revolving door relationship with the Obama and Clinton administrations.
In 2014, The New York Times reported that Brookings, which opened a branch in Doha in 2002, had received millions of dollars in contributions from Qatar.
In 2013 alone, the Qatari regime contributed $14.8 million to Brookings.
Not surprisingly, Brookings' scholars supported the overthrow of Mubarak, and supported the Muslim Brotherhood regime during its year in power. Brookings
scholars urged the Obama administration to cut off military assistance to Egypt after the military overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.
Brookings scholars have similarly written sympathetically of Qatar and its ally Turkey. As the Investigative Project on Terrorism revealed in a four-part
series on Brookings' relations with Qatar in 2014, Brookings' scholars ignored human rights abuses by Qatar and praised Turkey's Erdogan regime as behaving like the US in enabling religion to have a role in public life.
It is likely that given then-president Barack Obama's strategic goal of reorienting US Middle East policy away from its traditional Sunni allies and Israel
toward Iran and its allies in Qatar and Turkey, that Brookings, Clinton and other beneficiaries of Qatar's generosity were simply knocking on an open door. Indeed, in 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, the Obama administration's alliance with Qatar, Turkey
and Iran against Sunnis and Israel came out of the shadows.
During the Hamas war with Israel, Obama sought to dislodge Egypt from its traditional role as mediator between Israel and Hamas and replace it with Qatar
and Turkey. For their part, both regimes, which fund and support Hamas, accepted all of Hamas's cease-fire demands against Israel and Egypt. As their partner, the Obama administration also supported Hamas's demands.
Had Egypt and Israel bowed to those demands, Hamas would have achieved a strategic victory in its war against Israel and Egypt. To avoid buckling to US
pressure, Egypt built a coalition with the same states that are now leading the charge against Qatar - Saudi Arabia and the UAE - and openly supported Israel.
In the end, the standoff between the two sides caused the war to end in a draw. Hamas was not dismantled, but it failed to secure Israeli or Egyptian
acceptance of any of its demands for open borders and access to the international banking system.
Given that Trump is not aligned with Brookings, the Clinton Foundation or US academia, it could be argued that he is not beholden to Qatari money in any
way.
But unfortunately, they are not the only beneficiaries of Qatari largesse.
There is also the Pentagon.
In the 1990s, Qatar spent more than $1b. constructing the Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha.
It is the most sophisticated air force base in the region. In 2003, the base replaced Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base as headquarters for the US
military's Central Command. Since 2003, all US operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are controlled from the base.
Following Trump's Twitter postings, the Pentagon was quick to say that operations at Al Udeid base had not been influenced by the crisis between Qatar
and its neighbors. The Pentagon spokesman refused to say whether or not Qatar sponsors terrorism.
Instead, Capt. Chris Davis stated, "I consider them a host to our very important base at Al Udeid." He commended Qatar for hosting US forces and for its
"enduring commitment to regional security."
Also on Tuesday, according to the Egyptian media, Iran deployed Revolutionary Guard Corps forces to Doha to protect the emir and his palace.
On Wednesday, Turkey's parliament voted to empower Erdogan to deploy forces to Qatar to protect the regime.
The moves by Qatar's allies Iran and Turkey significantly raise the stakes in the contest of wills now at play between Qatar and its Sunni neighbors and
adversaries.
With Iranian forces guarding the palace and the emir, the possibility of a bloodless coup inside the Al Thani family has been significantly diminished.
Any move against the emir will raise the prospect of an open war with Iran.
So, too, if Egypt and Saudi Arabia invade or otherwise attack Qatar, with or without US support, the US risks seeing its Arab allies at war with its NATO
ally Turkey.
Under the circumstances, Trump's refusal to endorse Article 5 of the NATO treaty during his speech in Brussels appears wise and well-considered.
Article 5 states that an attack against one NATO ally represents an attack against all NATO allies.
With the Pentagon dependent on the Qatari base, and with no clear path for unseating the emir through war or coup without risking a much larger and more
dangerous conflict, the only clear option is a negotiated resolution.
Under the circumstances, the best the US can probably work toward openly is a diminishment of Qatar's regional profile and financial support for Iran
and its terrorist allies and proxies. Hence, Trump's announcement on Wednesday that he will mediate the conflict.
However, in the medium and long term, Trump's statement on Twitter made clear his ultimate goal.
Comey,
C'mon man!
C'mon man!
- Bill Wilson -
www.dailyjot.com
www.dailyjot.com
Comey this, Comey that, Comey, Comey, Comey-the news reports on the James Comey testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee are beginning to sound like
some sort of rock and roll song. I wasn't going to write any more on this, but there is no choice. This whole thing with Comey and his testimony is a dog and pony show on the biggest stage in the world showing how hypocritical and petty the Washington, D.C.
political machine has become. It never was wonderfully honorable, but the hype aimed at destroying reputations and providing high-drama for political gain is held at the public expense of taxpayers over the insinuation and innuendo of political hack James
Comey. It's embarrassing.
The one new revelation that came from the testimony of this Democratic Party operative and 5th Estate power monger is that Comey revealed just how underhanded
the political tactics become when someone feels their power is threatened. He gave America insight into the shenanigans by admitting that he used a close friend of his-Columbia law professor Daniel Richman-to leak the content of his memos to himself to the
New York Times in hope of triggering the appointment of a special counsel. What he did was write up his own (hear biased or politically motivated opinion) account of his private meetings with President Donald Trump and leaked them through a second party to
the New York Times with hopes of undermining Trump's presidency.
That's the motive. It is not what the leftist news media will report, but it is-take it from a former political operative-how hardball is played. At the
same time Comey is admitting to this underhanded chicanery, he also testified that he couldn't say whether Trump's request to shut down the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was an obstruction of justice. He said this issue was
for a special counsel to determine. This is another political tactic to undermine Trump's presidency-answer a leading question without saying a law was broken, but imply that it was. The news picks up on it, and the reputation of the target suffers in the
public irrespective of whether it is true or false.
So far, the Democrats are winning in their media war against Trump. They have a special counsel appointed. An investigation is underway even though top
Democrats say there is no evidence of wrongdoing. The witch hunt is aired in the public daily, undermining the public confidence in the presidency. And that is the goal-to make it so Trump cannot implement his agenda. It's a strategy of the coup. As long as
the notion of wrongdoing is pounded into the public's minds, the strategy of this revolution is succeeding. As Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Don't forget it. This spiritual wickedness is very persuasive and can cause even the elect to misstep.
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