Krauthammer: Why Middle East peace starts in Saudi Arabia

"Whom the gods would destroy, they first tempt to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict."  -- Irving Kristol

 Charles Krauthammer  . . . "That progress began with Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, the first of his presidency -- an unmistakable declaration of a radical reorientation of U.S. policy in the region. Message: The appeasement of Iran is over.

"Barack Obama's tilt toward Iran in the great Muslim civil war between Shiite Iran and Sunni Arabs led by Saudi Arabia was his reach for Nixon-to-China glory. It ended ignominiously.

"The idea that the nuclear deal would make Iran more moderate has proved spectacularly wrong, as demonstrated by its defiant ballistic missile launches, its indispensable support for the genocidal Assad regime in Syria, its backing of the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, its worldwide support for terrorism, its relentless anti-Americanism and commitment to the annihilation of Israel." . . . 

. . . "After eight years of U.S. policy hovering between neglect and betrayal, the Sunni Arabs are relieved to have America back. A salutary side effect is the possibility of a detente with Israel." . . .

"Ironically, the Iranian threat that grew under Obama offers a unique opportunity for U.S.-Arab and even Israeli-Arab cooperation. Over time, such cooperation could gradually acclimate Arab peoples to a nonbelligerent stance toward Israel. Which might in turn help persuade the Palestinians to make some concessions before their fellow Arabs finally tire of the Palestinians' century of rejectionism.

"Perhaps that will require a peace process of sorts. No great harm, as long as we remember that any such Israeli-Palestinian talks are for show -- until conditions are one day ripe for peace." . . .

Liberal Bullies such as Christine Fair Threaten Free Speech

"A Georgetown professor provides the latest example."

National Review  . . . "The “Fair” referred to in this instance is Georgetown professor Christine Fair, who this week is being hailed in many quarters for confronting notorious “alt-right” leader Richard Spencer in a D.C.-area gym last weekend where he was working out alone. 

"According to Fair’s account in the Washington Post, she walked up to Spencer and accosted him, saying, inter alia, “I find your presence in this gym to be unacceptable, your presence in this town to be unacceptable.” When a woman who witnessed Fair’s challenge attempted to step in and stop her from verbally abusing Spencer, she told her, “You’re actually enabling a real-life Nazi.” (For the record, Spencer denies that he is a Nazi and refers to himself as an “identitarian.”) The general manager approached Fair and asked her to leave in response to her tirade. Afterward, when Spencer’s identity was revealed, his gym membership was revoked — while Fair, who even by her own account was harassing Spencer, went unpunished. (One should note that Christian bakers are not allowed to be so choosy about the clientele of their establishments.)

"Let’s stipulate that Richard Spencer is a man who has embraced values that are anathema to America’s, and that his vision is quite obviously not one that conservatives or Republicans share. But Fair publicly claims that Spencer’s very presence in the gym, because of his political views, creates an oppressive environment, which is a much more dramatic and potentially dangerous claim." . . . More

"If we won’t fight for the free speech of those who anger the Left, no matter how distasteful we find their views, because we are afraid that the Left will wrongly ascribe their views to us, then conservatives are little more than feeding red meat to the ravenous left-wing lion in vain hopes that they will be the last ones eaten. And the lion is getting stronger and hungrier.

Commentary: I confronted Richard Spencer at my gym. Racists don't get to lift in peace.  Christine Fair brags about her confrontation with Spencer.
It turns out Fair has also assaulted Dr. Robert Spencer (No relation to Richard Spencer), the jihad resistance leader and founder of Jihad Watch.

Spencer (MA, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history in depth since 1980. His work has aroused the ire of the foes of freedom and their dupes: in October 2011, Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups wrote to Homeland Security Advisor (and current CIA director) John Brennan, demanding that Spencer be removed as a trainer for the FBI and military groups, which he taught about the belief system of Islamic jihadists; Brennan immediately complied as counter-terror training materials were scrubbed of all mention of Islam and jihad. 

‘F**K YOU. GO TO HELL’: Georgetown Prof Loses It On Muslim Trump Voter

"Asra Q. Nomani, a former Georgetown journalism professor and Wall Street Journal reporter, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post Nov. 10 explaining why she, as a Muslim woman and “long-time liberal,” voted for Trump. “I support the Democratic Party’s position on abortion, same-sex marriage and climate change,” Nomani wrote. “But I am a single mother who can’t afford health insurance under Obamacare.' ” . . . 

"Fair’s personal website says “she can cause trouble in multiple languages,” and her YouTube features videos like “Introducing the Pussy Avenger” and “Tales of My Pussy.”  

"Other notable commentary on Fair’s public Facebook includes calling future first lady Melania Trump a “soft porn star,” lamenting that “gun nuts don’t shoot each other,” and supporting Black Lives Matter." . . .

Fair even has bile enough to spend on the First Lady:

What feelings she may have about Bill Clinton's life story remains to be seen.

Enabling Murder

Jewish World Review  "Damn these jihadist murderers of children. And damn the politicians who have, in many cases, helped make these murders possible but who are quick, this time and every time, to serve up empty declarations of "solidarity"even as the bodies of innocents are still being counted.

"London mayor Sadiq Khan (who recently dismissed terrorist attacks as "part and parcel of living in a big city"): "London stands with Manchester." Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer (who, in the wake of the Pulse nightclub massacre, proclaimed a CAIR-backed "Muslim Women's Day"­you know, the kind of event that proclaims hijabs "empowering"): Orlando "stands in solidarity with the people of the UK." L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti (who went berserk when Trump tried to impose that temporary travel ban from a half­ dozen Muslim countries): "Los Angeles stands with the people of Manchester." 

"Meaningless words, all of them. But Angela Merkel takes the cake: "People in the UK can rest assured that Germany stands shoulder to shoulder with them." Well, isn't that . . . reassuring. In what way do such words help anybody to "rest assured" of anything? 

"In any case, how dare she? This, after all, is the woman who opened the floodgates­ the woman who, out of some twisted sense of German historical guilt, put European children in danger by inviting into the continent masses of unvetted people from the very part of the world where this monstrous evil has its roots." . . .

I find it ironic that Germany, purportedly out of guilt over what they did to European Jewry and in penance open their doors for the very people who vow the destruction of those very people. Hitler even has a Muslim SS during the war. TD

Catholics Respond to Pope Francis' 'One-Sided, Misleading' Message to Donald Trump

PJ Media

"On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump met with Pope Francis. Francis gave the president three gifts: a sculpture of an olive tree, his message "Nonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace," and a copy of his encyclical on climate change, Laudato Si, Reuters reported. Trump promised to read them.

"But American Catholics expressed skepticism about just how well these messages represent a Catholic approach to governance.

" 'Pope Francis' peace message, like so much of what he says, is one-sided and misleading," John Zmirak, senior editor of The Stream and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism, told PJ Media in an interview Wednesday. "It's a failure of Christian charity, even of courage, to blather about non-violence with ISIS, al Qaeda, or others who believe that murder can land them in Paradise."

"Before the Trump-Francis meeting, Zmirak penned a defense of President Trump's immigration policy, correcting common misconceptions about Catholic social teaching. In that article, he quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says, "Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to insist in carrying civic burdens."

"Zmirak called Pope Francis out for a June 2015 speech in which the pontiff claimed that arms manufacturers aren't really Christians and then went on to denounce the Allies in World War II for not bombing Nazi death camps. "Where were they supposed to get the bombs? From all the wicked non-Christians who risked their souls by making them?" Zmirak asked.

" 'As I show at length in The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism, it’s incoherent, utopian blather. So is the pope’s demand for open borders to Islam. Suicide by virtue-signaling," the Stream editor added." . . .

Did Brennan Collude with Foreign Spies to Help Hillary?

Daniel John Sobieski  . . . "Brennan didn’t explain why he thought that the Russians didn’t want Hillary Clinton to win. Perhaps he could explain why they didn’t prefer Hillary, who was Secretary of State when President Obama let Russia violate the INF Missile Treaty and colluded with the Russians to kill missile defense in Europe, telling Then Russian president Dimitri Medvedev to tell Putin he would have more “flexibility” after his reelection." . . .  (Emphasis added, TD)

"So Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with husband Bill, in exchange for donations, gave nuclear power Russia and Putin control of 20 percent of the world’s uranium supply. Is that what Hillary Clinton meant by a “Russian reset”? Yet neither Congressional Democrats, who accuse Trump of being too cozy with Moscow, nor their wholly owned subsidiary, the mainstream media, are eager to talk about the Clinton uranium deals with Russia."
. . . 

"It is that John Brennan himself colluded with the Russians to help Hillary win to guarantee his continued tenure as CIA director. It involves the infamous anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, used by Brennan and others as a pretext for a Trump investigation bonanza. As the American Spectator reported:

An article in the Guardian last week provides more confirmation that John Brennan was the American progenitor of political espionage aimed at defeating Donald Trump. One side did collude with foreign powers to tip the election -- Hillary’s. . . .  

Adding to the above picture of this member of the Obama-Clinton administration is this look at their view of our ally Israel and those who seek to destroy that country. Here Brennan calls Jerusalem by it's Arabic name "Al-Quds" in his paen to Islam:

For the sake of historical accuracy, Mr. Brennan, there has never been a country called “Palestine” in the Middle East.

. . . The area now called Israel was called “the land of Israel” for thousands of years. The earliest attestation of the name “Israel” from a non biblical source is on Pharaoh Merneptah’s stele. Mr. Brennan, since you studied at the American University in Cairo you could have visited it. It is in the Cairo museum. It’s dated to c. 1205 BCE, meaning, according to Egyptian sources, the land has been called Israel for at least 3218 years! As for Jerusalem, it has been Israel’s capital since the 10th century BCE i.e., for 3000 years." . . .

But I digress. TD 

Saudis Rejoice Over 'Death' of Obama's Policies

Even if by some remote chance they have seen the last of Obama, those who cherish him enough to vote him into office twice still populate this country.

 "Al­Sharq al ­Awsat, a Saudi­ owned newspaper published in London, went a step further, publishing a caricature of a wreath being laid at a tombstone reading "Obama's Policies."

Israel Today  "Israel was not the only country in the Middle East happy to see Barack Obama out of the White House. President Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia over the weekend served as a very public slap in the face of his predecessor.

"And it was the Saudis, not Trump, who delivered the blow. Saudi newspapers Okaz and Al­Madina noted that there was a lot of frustration with Obama's defeatist policies regarding Iran, and that Saudi Arabia sees Trump as heralding a new era of strength in the face of such enemies.

 "Al­Sharq al ­Awsat, a Saudi­ owned newspaper published in London, went a step further, publishing a caricature of a wreath being laid at a tombstone reading "Obama's Policies."

"In the days leading up to his trip, a number In the days leading up to his trip, a number of regional officials, like the Foreign Minister of Bahrain, said that Trump understands the Middle East far better than Obama could ever hope to." . . .




All this bothers Obama not one bit. He still "not so subtly undercuts Trump"

Why a schoolyard taunt could be a savvy strategy against ISIS

Rich Terrell

The Atlantic   . . . “ 'So many young, beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life,” Trump said during a visit to Israel. “I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term. They would think that’s a great name. I will call them from now on losers because that’s what they are. They’re losers. And we’ll have more of them. But they’re losers—just remember that.”  

"It’s a jarring term to use—a schoolyard put-down that Trump has favored in one petty context after another, uttered at a moment when young lives have been cut short and life’s simple joys have been brutally disrupted.

"But it’s also a compelling strategy. Barack Obama refused to use phrases like “the Islamic State” and “radical Islamic terrorism” in part because he wanted to deny ISIS and its ilk a critical asset: religious legitimacy. Trump, who long condemned Obama for this position, didn’t just back away on Tuesday from the “radical Islam” language he deployed so often during the presidential campaign and the early days of his presidency. Echoing his recent speech in Saudi Arabia on jihadist terrorism, Trump used an epithet that translates across religions: “evil.” (Trump is also echoing George W. Bush, who described his war on terror as a battle between good and evil, and Ronald Reagan, who spoke of a moral struggle between the freedom-loving United States and the “Evil Empire” in Russia.) And he sought to deprive ISIS of another core asset: the perception that it is winning." . . .

Naturally the left - particularly Whoopi Goldberg of "The View" - find Trump's use of the word "unpresidential", unlike Obama's use of the middle finger at opposition.

Did you expect the Whoopster to like anything that NotObama would do or say? The Tunnel Dweller.

'The View' Bashes Trump as Unpresidential for Calling Terrorists 'Evil Losers'