TRUMP WATCH: 12.9.16 - The fool confounding the wise

The fool confounding the wise - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com

 

The Trump Presidency is taking shape with cabinet appointments and transition team assignments. These are the things each new Administration must do as they prepare for office. But this time it's different. The stock markets have gained record amounts, saying they are moving away from the interest rate-based standard of recent years to an earnings based standard; companies that had planned to move their business overseas are deciding to keep their jobs in America; and foreign countries are being put on notice that things are not going to be their globalist norm. Globalist leftists are crying foul already and fear the worst. We as Americans need to reset our thinking after 20-plus years of America in decline.

 

Last week, the New York Times wrote a story about Donald Trump's unorthodoxy on foreign policy. The story was essentially a lot of hand-wringing that Trump was going to upset the balance of foreign policy by making extremely stupid diplomatic mistakes. The story was pointing out that Trump had called or had talked to a list of diplomats that were out of order of the normal protocol. They were also really bent out of shape that Trump had received a call from the President of Taiwan, which sent a signal to China that the US may be recognizing Taiwan as the true China-a real "no-no" in US-Chinese relations. The Times insinuated Trump was dangerously ignorant.

 

It caught the attention of the Chinese, warning they hoped Trump's remarks didn't interfere with trade relations. Trump fired back saying China could face stiff tariffs if it didn't quit manipulating its currency to gain trade advantages. Tuesday, Trump texted, "Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!." He was referring to Boeing running the costs up on a new Air Force One and that Boeing was "doing a little bit of a number." So whether it is China or Boeing playing the US as a weak kneed negotiator, Trump is pushing back on behalf of the American citizen's. The media and democrats are aghast that Trump will ruin everything.

 

Americans need to get acclimated once again to American exceptionalism. The cozy relationships that liberals masquerading as Republicans and communists in the Democratic Party have created over the past 27 years are being shaken even before Trump takes office. This half a generation of globalism and getting along at your expense put our nation in decline. This new normal will be a shock to many and those in power are saying Trump is foolish and are mocking him. Let us remember 1 Corinthians 1:27, which says, "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." Let us also remember not to put our trust in political solutions-Let's keep our eyes, hearts and prayers fixed on Jesus.

 

Israel's first project with Trump - By Caroline B. Glick - http://jewishworldreview.com/1216/glick120916.php3

 

Israeli officials are thrilled with the national security team that US President-elect Donald Trump is assembling. And they are right to be.

 

The question now is how Israel should respond to the opportunity it presents us with.

 

The one issue that brings together all of the top officials Trump has named so far to his national security team is Iran.

 

Gen. (ret.) John Kelly, whom Trump appointed Wednesday to serve as his secretary of homeland security, warned about Iran's infiltration of the US from Mexico and about Iran's growing presence in Central and South America when he served as commander of the US's Southern Command.

 

Gen. (ret.) James Mattis, Trump's pick to serve as defense secretary, and Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Michael Flynn, whom he has tapped to serve as his national security adviser, were both fired by outgoing President Barack Obama for their opposition to his nuclear diplomacy with Iran.

 

During his video address before the Saban Forum last weekend, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that he looks forward to discussing Obama's nuclear Iran nuclear deal with Trump after his inauguration next month. Given that Netanyahu views the Iranian regime's nuclear program - which the nuclear deal guaranteed would be operational in 14 years at most - as the most serious strategic threat facing Israel, it makes sense that he wishes to discuss the issue first.

 

But Netanyahu may be better advised to first address the conventional threat Iran poses to Israel, the US and the rest of the region in the aftermath of the nuclear deal.

 

There are two reasons to start with Iran's conventional threat, rather than its nuclear program.

 

First, Trump's generals are reportedly more concerned about the strategic threat posed by Iran's regional rise than by its nuclear program - at least in the immediate term.

 

Israel has a critical interest in aligning its priorities with those of the incoming Trump administration.

 

The new administration presents Israel with the first chance it has had in 50 years to reshape its alliance with the US on firmer footing than it has stood on to date. The more Israel is able to develop joint strategies with the US for dealing with common threats, the firmer its alliance with the US and the stronger its regional posture will become.

 

The second reason it makes sense for Israel to begin its strategic discussions with the Trump administration by addressing Iran's growing regional posture is because Iran's hegemonic rise is a strategic threat to Israel. And at present, Israel lacks a strategy for dealing with it.

 

Our leaders today still describe Hezbollah with the same terms they used to describe it a decade ago during the Second Lebanon War. They discuss Hezbollah's massive missile and rocket arsenal.

 

With 150,000 projectiles pointed at Israel, in a way it makes sense that Israel does this.

 

Just this week Israel reinforced the sense that Hezbollah is more or less the same organization it was 10 years ago when - according to Syrian and Hezbollah reports - on Tuesday Israel bombed Syrian military installations outside Damascus.

 

Following the alleged bombing, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told EU ambassadors that Israel is committed to preventing Hezbollah from transferring advanced weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, from Syria to Lebanon.

 

The underlying message is that having those weapons in Syria is not viewed as a direct threat to Israel.

 

Statements like Liberman's also send the message that other than the prospect of weapons of mass destruction or precision missiles being stockpiled in Lebanon, Israel isn't particularly concerned about what is happening in Lebanon.

 

These statements are unhelpful because they obfuscate the fact that Hezbollah is not the guerrilla organization it was a decade ago.

 

Hezbollah has changed in four basic ways since the last war.

 

First, Hezbollah is no longer coy about the fact that it is an Iranian, rather than Lebanese, organization.

 

Since Iran's Revolutionary Guards founded Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1983, the Iranians and Hezbollah terrorists alike have insisted that Hezbollah is an independent organization that simply enjoys warm relations with Iran.

 

But today, with Hezbollah forming the backbone of Iran's operations in Syria, and increasingly prominent in Afghanistan and Iraq, neither side cares if the true nature of their relationship is recognized.

 

For instance, recently Hezbollah commander Hassan Nasrallah bragged, "We're open about the fact that Hezbollah's budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets are from the Islamic Republic of Iran."

 

What our enemies' new openness tells us is that Israel must cease discussing Hezbollah and Iran as separate entities. Israel's next war in Lebanon will not be with Hezbollah, or even with Lebanon. It will be with Iran.

 

This is not a semantic distinction. It is a strategic one. Making it will have a positive impact on how both Israel and the rest of the world understand the regional strategic reality facing Israel, the US and the rest of the nations of the Middle East.

 

The second way that Hezbollah is different today is that it is no longer a guerrilla force. It is a regular army with a guerrilla arm and a regional presence. Its arsenal is as deep as Iran's arsenal.

 

And at present at least, it operates under the protection of the Russian Air Force and air defense systems.

 

Hezbollah has deployed at least a thousand fighters to Iraq where they are fighting alongside Iranian forces and Shi'ite militia, which Hezbollah trains. Recent photographs of a Hezbollah column around Mosul showed that in addition to its advanced missiles, Hezbollah also fields an armored corps. Its armored platforms include M1A1 Abrams tanks and M-113 armored personnel carriers.

 

The footage from Iraq, along with footage from the military parade Hezbollah held last month in Syria, where its forces also showed off their M-113s, makes clear that Hezbollah's US platform- based maneuver force is not an aberration.

 

The significance of Hezbollah's vastly expanded capabilities is clear. Nasrallah's claims in recent years that in the next war his forces will stage a ground invasion of the Galilee and seek to seize Israeli border towns was not idle talk. Even worse, the open collaboration between Russia and Iran-Hezbollah in Syria, and their recent victories in Aleppo, mean that there is no reason for Israel to assume that Hezbollah will only attack from Lebanon. There is a growing likelihood that Hezbollah will make its move from Syrian territory.

 

The third major change from 2006 is that like Iran, Hezbollah today is much richer than it was before Obama concluded the nuclear deal with the ayatollahs last year. The deal, which canceled economic and trade sanctions on Iran, has given the mullahs a massive infusion of cash.

 

Shortly after the sanctions were canceled, the Iranians announced that they were increasing their military budget by 90%. Since Hezbollah officially received $200 million per year before sanctions were canceled, the budget increase means that Hezbollah is now receiving some $400m. per year from Iran.

 

The final insight that Israel needs to base its strategic planning on is that a month and a half ago, Hezbollah-Iran swallowed Lebanon.

 

In late October, after a two-and-a-half-year fight, Saad Hariri and his Future Movement caved to Iran and Hezbollah and agreed to support their puppet Michel Aoun in his bid for the Lebanese presidency.

 

True, Hariri was also elected to serve as prime minister. But his position is now devoid of power.

 

Hariri cannot raise a finger without Nasrallah's permission.

 

Aoun's election doesn't merely signal that Hariri caved. It signals that Saudi Arabia - which used the fight over Lebanon's presidency as a way to block Iran's completion of its takeover of the country - has lost the influence game to Iran.

 

Taken together with Saudi ally Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's announcement last week that he supports Syrian President Bashar Assad's remaining in power, Aoun's presidency shows that the Sunnis have accepted that Iran is now the dominant power in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

 

This brings us back to Hezbollah's tank corps and the reconstruction of the US-Israel alliance.

 

After the photos of the US-made armored vehicles in Hezbollah's military columns were posted online, both Hezbollah and the Lebanese Armed Forces insisted that the weapons didn't come from the LAF.

 

But there is no reason to believe them.

 

In 2006, the LAF provided Hezbollah with targeting information for its missiles and intelligence support. Today it must be assumed that in the next war, the LAF, and its entire arsenal will be placed at Hezbollah-Iran's disposal. In 2016 alone, the US provided the LAF with $216m. in military assistance.

 

From Israel's perspective, the most strategically significant aspect of Hezbollah-Iran's uncontested dominance over all aspects of the Lebanese state is that while they control the country, they are not responsible for it.

 

Israeli commanders and politicians often insist that the IDF has deterred Hezbollah from attacking Israel. Israel's deterrence, they claim, is based on the credibility of our pledge to bomb the civilian buildings now housing Hezbollah rockets and missiles in the opening moments of the next conflict.

 

These claims are untrue, though. Since Hezbollah- Iran are not responsible for Lebanon despite the fact that they control it through their puppet government, Iranian and Hezbollah leaders won't be held accountable if Israel razes south Lebanon in the next war. They will open the next war not to secure Lebanon, but to harm Israel. If Lebanon burns to the ground, it will be no sweat off their back.

 

The reason a war hasn't begun has nothing to do with the credibility of Israel's threats. It has to do with Iran's assessment of its interests. So long as the fighting goes on in Syria, it is hard to see Iran ordering Hezbollah to attack Israel. But as soon as it feels comfortable committing Hezbollah forces to a war with Israel, Iran will order it to open fire.

 

This then brings us back to the incoming Trump administration, and its assessment of the Iranian threat.

 

Trump's national security appointments tell us that the 45th president intends to deal with the threat that Iran poses to the US and its interests.

 

Israel must take advantage of this strategic opening to deal with the most dangerous conventional threat we face.

 

In our leaders' conversations with Trump's team they must make clear that the Iranian conventional threat stretches from Afghanistan to Israel and on to Latin America and Michigan. Whereas Israel will not fight Iran in Iraq and Afghanistan, or in the Americas, it doesn't expect the US to fight Iran in Lebanon. But at the same time, as both allies begin to roll back the Iranian threat, they should be operating from a joint strategic vision that secures the world from Iran's conventional threat.

 

And once that it accomplished, the US and Israel can work together to deal with Iran's nuclear program.

 

 

 Dignity and blessing of a job - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com

 

A record 95 million Americans were not in the labor force in November, about 15 million more than when the current "president" took office. These are folks who have either retired or gave up finding a job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics some 3.6 million people had lost their jobs and those who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more stood at 1.9 million, a quarter of the unemployed. For all the rhetoric the progressives (translated communists) put on the working class, they do so little to create jobs and ensure that each citizen has the opportunity to support their family and have the dignity of economic stability. Instead, they want to control votes and psychology by having them on the government dole.

 

The American people repeatedly have been told that economic recessions are the fault of the free-market-that capitalist Republicans drive the economy into shambles by lowering taxes and giving businesses incentives. They call it "trickle down" economics. The sad fact is that raising taxes on businesses (which means taking away tax incentives that keep jobs in the US) and overreaching regulation puts a ceiling on the number of jobs that business can afford. Higher taxes restrict job creation and growth of the free market. Class warfare (that the rich are the demons of society) ignores that there is risk and reward for job creation-without some "rich" person creating jobs through a large corporation, many workers don't work.

 

Already, the Trump election has incentivized businesses to create or keep jobs here in the US. We have seen examples with Ford and Carrier. Now we are seeing examples in the steel industry, which has been depressed for decades due in part to repressive Democratic-inspired tax and regulation policies. US Steel CEO Mario Longhi told CNBC News that the American steel industry could bring back 10,000 jobs because of "future improvement to the tax laws, improvements to regulation" as a result of Trump taking office. Longhi said, "I'd be more than happy to bring back the employees we've been forced to lay off during that depressive period...There was a point in time in the past couple years that I was having to hire more lawyers to try to interpret these new regulations than I was hiring...engineers. That doesn't make any sense."

 

Reasonable regulation and fair taxation is a better choice than class warfare for every American. The Bible says that a worker is worth his wages. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:13, "...that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God." In this country, we have strived to create a freedom where everyone who wants a job can work; where everyone has opportunity. Yes, there are those who squander their opportunities, or face more hardships than others, and still others who have little ambition. It is there freedom to do so. But when politicians extol the virtues of the working man, yet govern with policies that oppress him, they rob the worker of the blessing of enjoyment of his labor. Already, we are seeing the impact of the hope of less oppression. This hope brings with it dignity and blessing.