Iran’s emerging empire and Obama's foreign policy; beware, Israel!

Charles Krauthammer  "While Iran’s march toward a nuclear bomb has provoked a major clashbetween the White House and Congress, Iran’s march toward conventional domination of the Arab world has been largely overlooked. In Washington, that is. The Arabs have noticed. And the pro-American ones, the Gulf Arabs in particular, are deeply worried." . . .

"Why should we care about the coup? First, because we depend on Yemen’s government to support our drone war against another local menace, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). It’s not clear if we can even maintain our embassy in Yemen, let alone conduct operations against AQAP. And second, because growing Iranian hegemony is a mortal threat to our allies and interests in the entire Middle East."

And if you take nothing else away from this article, at least heed these words:

"Iran’s domination of Syria was further illustrated by a strange occurrence last Sunday in the Golan Heights. An Israeli helicopter attacked a convoy on the Syrian side of the armistice line. Those killed were not Syrian, however, but five Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon and several Iranian officials, including a brigadier general.

"What were they doing in the Syrian Golan Heights? Giving “crucial advice,” announced the Iranian government. On what? Well, three days earlier, Hezbollah’s leader had threatened an attack on Israel’s Galilee. Tehran appears to be using its control of Syria and Hezbollah to create its very own front against Israel."

Related: Charles Krauthammer’s remarks on The Kelly File Friday evening.

... "Obama has less sympathy for Israel than any president in our history, Krauthammer said.

"He had Netanyahu leave the White House through the rear entrance the first time he visited because they disagreed. Obama immediately makes it personal."  

Have I not used the word "petulant" often in articles about Obama?.

An ominous connection with the above: Will Hezbollah attempt to capture Metula?

"After several senior Hezbollah military leaders and an Iranian General were killed in the Syrian portion of the Golan Heights, presumably by Israel, there is plenty of speculation as to when and how Hezbollah and Iran will react.

"An article in The Times of Israel suggests that capturing an Israeli town or sections of northern Israel could be in store, as Hezbollah has threatened to do so in the next conflict:" . . .

(Hezbollah fortifications overlooking Metula, Israel)(photo Hadar Sela 2013)

... "So would Hezbollah try to capture Metula in response to the attack on the Hezbollah and Iranian commanders?

"My guess is not as part of a tit-for-tat. More likely rocket firings and attempted kidnappings, or attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets abroad.

"Because an attempt to capture an Israeli town like Metula would be the start of, or result in, all-out war."

Sadly, the way it all works

Obviously not judged by the content of his character.

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Reading list: Netanyahu ‘spat in our face,’ White House officials said to say.

It isn't just that this seems to be a diss of our president, but given Obama's petulance, Israel has hopefully counted the cost of all this and is prepared to pay it.
Basically I see this as a vote of "no confidence" in the Obama foreign policy.

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL  "PM ‘will pay price’ for spat over Congress address; Obama said 

to have asked him to tone down pro-sanctions rhetoric; Wash. Post: Kerry’s enthusiasm for

 defending Israel may wane"

“There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price,” he said.

"Officials in Washington said that the “chickens--t” epithet — with which an anonymous administration official branded Netanyahu several months ago — was mild compared to the language used in the White House when news of Netanyahu’s planned speech came in." ..

American Thinker: Obama fuming at Netanyahu invitation to Congress, plans retaliation  . . . "There is obviously no principle, only political convenience behind this demand, since Obama stood by as British PM Cameron announced to the world that he was lobbying U.S. senators on the same bill, only in the opposite direction."

Caroline Glick of Israel has this opinion:  . . . "As a small, isolated nation, Israel has no choice, they say, other than to follow the lead of the West, and particularly of the White House, on all issues, even when the US president is wrong. All resistance to White House policies is dangerous and irresponsible, leaders like Herzog and Tzipi Livni continuously warn.

"Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu exposes the Left’s dogma as dangerous nonsense.

"The role of an Israeli leader is to adopt the policies that protect Israel, even when they are unpopular at the White House. Far from being ostracized for those policies, such an Israeli leader will be supported, respected, and relied upon by those who share with him a concern for what truly matters."                                 Caroline Glick served from 1994-1996, as an IDF captain, and Coordinator of Negotiations with the PLO in the office of Government Activities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. In this capacity Ms. Glick was a core member of Israel’s negotiating team with the Palestinians.

Boehner didn't clear it with President Obama — kind of like the way the president doesn't clear with Boehner his repeated unilateral, unconstitutional executive actions that go over Congress's head.  . . . "Now the Israeli leader's message in March will attract much more attention than it would have — because Bibi dares to say what President Obama does not want to hear."

"From the administration that called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “chickens**t” comes more gems"
"In other words, the principles of support for Israel that the administration has long contended it holds dear are merely conditional on the White House feeling that it has the position of power in this special relationship."

White House Pressures Disney To Make Global Warming Sequel To Frozen

Downtrend

. . . "Why stop at forcing Disney to make a climate change Frozen? Obama should push all of his whacko leftist ideas on the animation studio. Cinderfella could be wonderful tale of transgender triumph. The Trigger Movie would show the need to disarm all civilians. Hybrid Cars could help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Snow Black And The Seven Dwarves would empower women of color everywhere. And finally The Lyin’ King would be animated Obama biopic (Pinocchio II or A Goofy Move II would also suffice).

"I don’t know if the government pressuring a private company into pushing its agenda is illegal, but it should be. At the very least, it’s unethical as hell. But hey, when has the law or ethics ever stopped Obama from imposing his will?"       By Brian Anderson,

According to this very movie, Women are Princesses and Men are all Clowns and Idiots

Al Sharpton will not participate in debate on US racism at Oxford. Will deliver prepared speech instead

Typical debate that Mr. Sharpton wanted no part of.

The Oxford Union is perhaps the most prestigious debating society in the UK

The Union is the world's most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. It has been established for 189 years, aiming to promote debate and discussion not just in Oxford University, but across the globe.

Oxford's rules of debate  No bull horns can be used.
This next particular rule I'm sure would be anathema to the Reverend:
The audience may only interrupt your speech using a Point of Information or a Point of Order.Point of Information: The speaker can choose to accept or refuse a point of information. This type of interruption should be used to clarify or question a point of information raised by the speaker, and not to express an opinion.Point of Order: Speakers must give way to a point of order. Such an interruption must only be used to draw attention to an abuse of the Forms of the House, such as a slanderous remark that they wish to be withdrawn.


The proceedings may have looked like this when Mr. Sharpton finished speaking:

The debate on racism that Sharpton would not be part of:   
To be debated: "Description  This House Believes The United States is Institutionally Racist"
This note has been added to the description of the debate:

PLEASE NOTE:  The Emergency Debate will not take place this evening - instead an individual address by Rev Al Sharpton will precede the debate at 7pm

To take part, Sharpton's ideas would have been subject to counter arguments.

Al Sharpton Dodges Racism Debate at Oxford Union, Will Deliver Prepared Speech  "This Friday, the Oxford Union in London will hold a debate about race relations in the United States. MSNBC host Al Sharpton accepted an invitation to the event, but after confirming he would be one of the participants to propose the motion that the United States is “institutionally racist,” he did an about face, shocking his esteemed hosts."
. . .
. . . "Webb was assured by the Oxford Union president Lisa Wehden that the opposing side will have an opportunity to ask questions of the [Reverend Al] Sharpton following his structured remarks. “It would be wrong to allow Sharpton to get away with just his usual thin, inflammatory rhetoric when this is supposed to be a substantive discussion,” said Webb." . . . (Emphasis added, TD)


MSNBC host, race profiteer and Obama confidante Al Sharpton received the honor of an invitation to participate in debate about U.S. race relations, hosted by the Oxford Union in London.

Many posts on this here. 



In case you want to hear the debate for yourself:
"The debate will be taped and aired on David Webb’s SiriusXM Patriot radio show Monday, January 26 at 9PM Eastern time. Additional coverage by Breitbart News, Fox News Network, and worldwide media is expected. The Oxford Union YouTube channel will have the full debate following its conclusion."

Priorities: Lame Media Networks Spend 68 Minutes On Deflategate And A Few Seconds On Obama’s Release Of Terrorists…

Weasel Zippers (cartoon added)

"Via Newsbusters:

The three major networks have, so far, devoted a staggering 67 minutes and 49 seconds to obsessing over every aspect of whether the New England Patriots cheated in their AFC championship win on Sunday. Yet, only ABC allowed a scant 34 seconds to the Obama administration’s release of five terrorists out of Guantanamo Bay and back to areas connected with extremist violence. The contrast is 120-to-1.

*NBC was, by far, the most lopsided in terms of journalistic priorities. From Monday through early Thursday, the network’s morning and evening shows produced 33 minutes and 35 seconds to the so-called “Deflategate.” Last week, however, NBC didn’t offer any coverage to the release of five detainees, just seven days after the slaughter of cartoonists in Paris.

* Oh, speaking of NBC:

Al Sharpton’s Employer, NBC News, Launches Website For Black People… 
 "Segregated websites and TV channels. The modern drinking fountains."

Via Breaking911 "The day has come, where black folks and white folks don’t have to read news from the same website.

Where Does Darren Wilson Go to Restore His Good Name, Reclaim His Life?

Voice of Lillpop  "Through no fault of his own, Darren Wilson, former police officer with the Ferguson, Missouri police department, has seen his name besmirched, his career disrupted, and his future all but ruined .

"He was the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, last August in an incident that resulted in Wilson being ridiculed and persecuted by millions of Americans, including the president of the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder, and race-baiting profiteers like Al Sharpton, for simply  doing his job.


"Wilson was portrayed by the biased media as an evil police officer who, without provocation, wiped out a black life for no reason except racism.

"Egged on by mainstream media, protesters demanded that Wilson be charged with murder and prosecuted accordingly, notwithstanding his acquittal of wrong doing by a properly constituted grand jury.

"Based on apparently false testimony by people who hate police officers, especially white ones, angry mobs took to the streets in Ferguson to protest the Grand Jury decision.  Ferguson became a rallying point for those who wish to perpetuate the myth that racism is rampant throughout America and that “people of color” are still enslaved by ignorance and bigotry on the part of Caucasian police and law authorities.

"Attorney General Eric Holder personally added to the smoldering flames of suspicion and resentment by announcing that federal civil rights investigations would be conducted, implying that officials in Missouri were too steeped in bigotry to be trusted.

"Five months after the tragic death of Michael Brown and the denigration of the police and Grand Jury System, Eric Holder’s Justice Department has completed its investigation.

"The result: No civil rights charges against Darren Wilson!"

But the images remain:

Can the West Stand Up for Free Speech?

False moral equivalence and blatant cowardice threaten our tradition of free expression.

Victor Davis Hanson

. . .. "Westerners fight against pornography, blasphemy, or hate speech in the arena of ideas by writing and speaking out against such foul expression. They are free to sue, picket, boycott, and pressure sponsors of unwelcome speech. But Westerners cannot return to the Middle Ages to murder those whose ideas they don’t like.

“ 'Parody” and “satire” are, respectively, Greek and Latin words. In antiquity the non-Western tradition simply did not produce authors quite like the vicious Aristophanes, Petronius, and Juvenal, who unapologetically trashed the society around them. If the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo loses the millennia-old right to ridicule Islam from within a democracy, then there is no longer a West, at least as we know it.". . .

. . .

"We expect the president of the United States to be the foremost defender of the Western faith of free expression. Unfortunately, Barack Obama — who has a habit of weighing in on everything from his own resemblance to Trayvon Martin to the likely Final Four — has been utterly confused about free speech.

"In 2009, during the Iranian Green Revolution, Obama kept quiet when millions of Iranians hit the streets to demand freedom from theocracy. Obama, who once made a last-minute trip to Denmark to lobby for Chicago to host the Olympics, was the sole major Western leader absent from a huge rally in Paris to reiterate the West’s commitment to free expression. Sports are one thing; defending free speech from radical Islam is quite another." . . .

http://libertyalliance.com/obama-hearts-iran/

Israel source says leaked report of Netanyahu-Mossad rift on Iran sanctions is 'Obama's revenge'

Fury in Israel Over Obama's Mossad 'Lies'  Senior Israeli says 'friends don't act like this' after Mossad Head denies US claim that he opposed Iran sanctions in talk with senators.

What else can one expect from this petulant juvenile head of the American state?

Jerusalem Post  

"According to Bloomberg, officials from Mossad have lobbied Congressional and administration officials to refrain from imposing new sanctions against Iran." 

"Israeli officials in Jerusalem told Army Radio on Thursday that a report in Bloomberg highlighting the rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the vaunted intelligence agency Mossad over Iran sanctions was “the Obama administration’s revenge” over the Republican-controlled Congress’ invitation to the premier to speak before a joint session without consulting the White House.

"According to the report, officials from Mossad have lobbied Congressional and administration officials to refrain from imposing new sanctions against Iran for fear that it would lead to a collapse of the Western powers’ talks with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

"The White House expressed anger over the invite extended to Netanyahu, calling it “a departure from protocol.” ...

You mean like going around Congress with executive orders?

Such a loss that Obama could not have been mentored by Martin Luther King, Jr. instead of Rev Wright and Bill Ayres - to name just two.

Boehner and Bibi blindside Barack

American Thinker  "There is a heaping helping of poetic justice in Speaker Boehner’s invitation to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on Iran sanctions. Just a week ago, the president stood alongside British PM David Cameron as he confessed to lobbying Senators on Iran sanctions, not uttering a peep about any impropriety in a foreign head of government interfering in domestic politics.
Of course, that didn’t stop press secretary Josh Earnest, who will say anything, from protesting:

Congress invites Netanyahu for Iran speech, Obama blindsided  . . . "Setting up a diplomatic showdown on an issue that has sharply divided Obama and congressional Republicans, Boehner announced the invitation the day after Obama pledged in his State of the Union address to veto Iran sanctions legislation being developed in Congress. 

"An Israeli official said Netanyahu, whose relationship with Obama has often been tense, was looking into the possibility of meeting with Obama when he comes to Washington to address a joint session of Congress on Feb. 11.

Media fail: 'Regular' mom in SOTU speech former Democrat operative for Patty Murray

Ethel C. Fenig: Just an average, ordinary retooled homemaker...who happens to be a Democratic campaign staffer  . . . "Oh, and Rebekah's husband Ben, the sacrificing construction Husband of the Year worker who is now thriving and is part of Obama's "our story."  Well, definitely not my story and maybe not yours.  Unmentioned also as to why perhaps Ben Erler lost his job...he drinks a lot and has been cited quite often for DUI.  That is not recommended for continuing employment in construction jobs."

Examiner.com

So why would President Obama and his allies in the media keep this information from the public? And why would Obama feel the need to fool the country with such a ruse?

Barack Obama with Rebekah Erler.

"During Tuesday night's State of the Union speech, President Obama spoke of a struggling mother of two from Minneapolis who wrote him a touching letter describing her struggle as a middle-class person. Obama even said the story of her and her husband was “the reason I ran for this office.” But it turns out that Rebekah Erler, the woman who wrote that letter to Obama, is a former Democratic campaign operative who worked as a field organizer for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and worked on Obama's 2008 campaign, Newsbusters reported Wednesday. Worse yet, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune failed to mention that in its glowing article.

Legal Insurrection:  . . "Remember Rebekah Erler, President Obama’s premiere “everywoman” success story from last night’s State of the Union address? The one whose family inspired the leader of the free world to stand up for the common man by…raising their taxes, or something?

"As it turns out, Rebekah isn’t just an inspiration. She’s an operative.

Consider Obama's character: 

•  Obama's health care plan promise named Politifact's 2013 'Lie of the Year'
• White House admits lying about Obama meeting Kenyan uncle
• Report says Obama knew Benghazi was a terror attack, lied about video
• Al Qaeda is 'On the Run'

• This site lists more My own personal choice is Obama's closing down all parks and monuments during the "government shutdown" with his instructions to make sure it hurt.  Petulant juvenile.

Snopes gives the above some balance

State Of The Union Address Just A Political Commercial

Investors.com  "Should the State of the Union continue in this form? Not only was the president's speech a fundraising pitch, so was Sen. Joni Ernst's GOP reply. That does a disservice to both a rising star and the competition of ideas.

"Based on content and delivery, you'd never guess that the newly elected senator from Iowa was a distinguished Iraq war veteran and brilliant campaigner who won office after defeating an obnoxious opponent, lawyered up with campaign cash, on the strength of what she stood for." . . .