We Would Like to Report a Hate Crime

 

In one instance of this hate crime, a single moment, thousands, tens of thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands were struck and terrified by this singular exhibit of this ongoing hate crime. This hate crime is so pervasive that it never ceases and is being furthered and perpetuated somewhere every hour of every day. This hate crime has several varieties but one surpasses all others combined in frequency and sheer forcefulness. When the hate crime, this particular form of hate crime, is committed it usually takes a form which strikes the hearts and lives of numerous simultaneously as is the intents of the perpetrators. This hate crime exists in every country, even in areas where its victims have never existed, visited, or ever been known by this select group of hate criminals. This is the only hate crime where there need not be any victim present or even within hundreds or even thousands of miles yet these hate crimes are still committed but often ignored. What is more remarkable is that places where there are real victims, unless one specific individual is struck personally, visibly, and dramatically with presentable damage or injury for the crime to be actually researched and possibly prosecuted. More often than not, contrary to much public opinion, another less visible result of the propensity and sitting on the extreme periphery of this specific form of hate crime, these more virulent nonspecific group targeted versions of this hate crime, the most common variety, the extent of police attention barely exceeds the taking of the initial report and just over half the time taking follow-up reports beyond taking a finalized list of physical damages and the cost of repairs.

 

What are the signs of this hate crime? Well, let us be honest, it is a group of hate crimes all aimed at a single measurable group who are readily identified though not necessarily easily discerned if one had to choose them from a line-up. Often these hate crimes are committed against the dead through desecration of grave sites, headstones, walls, gates and other items of areas of cemeteries set aside for the people who are victimized after their passing. Often the most affected are the relatives of those whose graves have been desecrated as well as those responsible for upkeep of their cemetery, either an entire cemetery or simply a reserved section. The resting places are far from the only targets as also gathering places are targeted such as retail stores, restaurants, food stores and any place where the victims shop or own some venture. Nothing related to these victims is safe, nothing anywhere. These hate crimes are rising in their commission at what are alarming rates across Europe while politicians are ignoring these crimes while focusing on similar crimes on other groups which are far less frequent. The reporting of these other hate crimes are very much shouted by the media ringing alarm bells regularly warning that the committing of such hate crimes against this targeted group is epidemic. This reported epidemic striking this particularly vociferous group whose protestations are of great interest in the media and the public conscience as their importance is apparently immeasurable has taken center stage while amounting to less than one third the number of the hate crime we are reporting about. Three times as many hate crimes are perpetrated against a group ignored while the lesser numbers are claimed to be propagated as a plague against society of which awareness must be immediately raised and kept at a sensitivity which could only encourage fake news over faked hate crimes.

 

That is exactly what had occurred since the election of Donald Trump. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has reported numerous high profile such purported hate crimes against Islamic women where they were victimized, reportedly, because they were wearing scarves, headscarves, hijabs, where presumably easily identifiable Trump supporters, after all the perpetrators were white and male and showing hatred, this is a reported hate crime after all, and victimizing Muslims women, which has to be the ultimate current evil, identifying them from their dress, particularly the hijab which these men tore off, demanded they remove or demanded they leave their country or other hateful acts. The SPLC had reported that hijabs had been torn off victims of these horrific hate crimes by Trump supporters at the University of Michigan (since retracted), Louisiana State University (also retracted), San Diego State University (that too was retracted), the New York City subway (again: retracted), and the University of New Mexico (no witnesses, won’t reveal attacker’s name or report the incident for investigation) as reported in an article titled The Great Hijab Cover-Up by Ann Coulter. These are reports that have been granted, along with similar reported crimes, close-up and intense coverage by the mainstream media as their perusal has produced reported crime wave of Islamophobic induced hate crimes. Meanwhile anti-Semitism has been largely ignored by comparison which is counterintuitive if one is aware of the actual commission of actual hate crimes as reported by the FBI for 2014 in the United States alone (see image below). Another report which came with the headline “Anti-Muslim hate crimes are still five times more common today than before 9/11” reported the actual numbers of religious hate crimes displayed two graphs, one showing the increase in anti-Muslim crimes from before and after 2001 which was significant (see image below) but still needs to be placed in context of all religious hate crimes which they did with another graph showing actual hate crimes by religion for 2013 (see image below). The combination of the two graphs, one showing the increase and then reduction to a higher new-normal of Islamophobic crimes and then the comparison showing the dominance of anti-Semitic hate crimes compared to all others usually with anti-Semitism driven hate crimes almost universally, excepting one year which proved to be an exception, 2001, being over half of the total anti-religious hate crimes proved the mainstream media, Washington Post in this particular case, to trumpet Islamophobic actions while trying to ignore or minimize by comparison anti-Semitism.

 

Hate Crimes Motivated by Religious Bias in a Short Graphic History

 

The truths about hate crimes is that anti-Semitism is by all measures the most prevalent hate crime which only gets worse when one remembers that Jews make up such a small portion of the population of the United States (less than 2%), Europe (less than 0.2%), and the world (less than 0.2% and omitting Israel approximately 0.1%). Despite the small numbers and percentages of Jews in the populations of the world by nation, continent and the world, the measure and amount of anti-Semitic feelings, beliefs, hatreds, myths and amount of ill at ease found by the Index of Anti-Semitism released by the Anti-Defamation League has some stunning revelations. Their map gives a revelation of the percentage of people responding to their questionnaire revealing they have anti-Semitic beliefs and leanings is stunning in its disclosure of the percentages worldwide by each regional or continental area is stunning, shocking and plain horrific in what it relates (see map below). Places where there are few if any Jews, it is revealed, have amounts of anti-Semitism well beyond reasoning and logic. The site above has numerous comparison tables, links to studies from previous years, about information, actual questions from the survey and other interesting information which flushes out their studies.

 

Levels in Percentages of Anti-Semitism Worldwide by Regions

 

Anti-Semitism has permeated human history all the way back to ancient Egypt under the Pharos as related in Torah and the Old Testament. This may even be the second oldest hate crime only exceeded by virgin sacrifices which were designed to promote a higher percentage of more friendly and greater amounts of male and female interactions of intimacy in the weeks, and particularly days and hours, approaching such sacrifices. Civility may have reduced the practice of human sacrifice but anti-Semitism continues to be woven within our societies around the world. The numbers tell the story but the silence in the media tells another side of anti-Semitism, media silence. In an age where every conceivable type of hate crime is getting pages upon pages of ink with what seems like an overly copious amount of charges which after full investigation are proven to be false. The latest has been the hijab campus hate crime wave where report after report has proven out to be false reports. Despite the percentage of false report of hijab victim crimes one might think that the media might be more cautious and wait for the initial investigation to be conducted as many of these incidents were disproven within forty-eight hours, but the media has jumped at the very first hint of a report or even in one case from the Ann Coulter article where one reported case to the SPLC actually had no witnesses, would not reveal attacker’s name nor report the incident for investigation to the authorities yet it made it into reports and interviews with the media where the SPLC provided information or an interviewee for a news or editorial program, both radio and television as well as print. Yet media reporting of anti-Semitic hate crimes are given less prominence and far less hyperventilating by media reporting. One would be led to believe that Islamophobia is rampant across society, especially in Europe and the United States, while anti-Semitism has been all but eliminated when the reality is except for a one year exception, 2001; anti-Semitism has had three times the numbers of hate crimes than Islamophobic hate crimes. If the media were being honest, then pictures like those below would be more prevalent than Women in a hijab crying and sobbing while telling her tale to local and national if not international media.

 

 

The conclusion is obvious, anti-Semitism has been around for such a long time that it is not new and thus not news while Islamophobia is far more recent problem, though far less than anti-Semitism, and thus is of greater interest. Further, Islam is in the news and of more interest with the Syria war, Iraq war, the recent United States and allies’ involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and other news of great interest. Much of this news is of a negative type, thus the media, which seeks to minimize the harsh realities of the violence permeating many Islamic nations, interest in finding news which places Islam in a better and more sympathetic light. Having an attractive, young Muslim woman crying on camera telling about how she was assaulted for being a Muslim, well, that is a sympathy story. Add that they are claiming that the attackers were supporters of Donald Trump make the story irresistible. On the other side of the table, we have Israel. The media has had Israel in their sights as the Obama Administration blamed Israel for his failures in forging Middle East peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The stories about Israel blamed for this, Israel responsible for that, about the only failure which was not blamed on Israel was the rising cost of health insurance under Obamacare. With all of this negative Israel stories, well, Jews were not exactly near the top of the list for sympathetic coverage. This could have contributed to the near invisible coverage of anti-Semitism. Whatever the reason for the unbalanced coverage, had the media covered reality as the numbers represent, then anti-Semitism coverage would have been beyond that of all other religious hate crimes combined as the above graphs reveal clearly. But since when was news about reporting reality and what is actually happening and not about painting the picture the media elitists want you to believe. With the mainstream media so utterly left-leaning and the current position of the left being predominantly anti-Israel and anti-Zionist, it does not take a huge leap in logic to conclude that anti-Semitism could not be all that far removed.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

What a Difference the Media Makes

 

Thinking back just over eight years to the media coverage of the election of President Barack Hussein Obama and his overwhelming Democrat majority in both houses of Congress and with a filibuster proof majority in the Senate and the media was all dreamy-eyed. There was their obvious euphoria which reflected much of the population’s reaction to having elected the first Black President. There was speculation of all the wondrous things to come, universal healthcare, a more perfect society, booming economy, jobs galore, the end of war, historic changes and a better Supreme Court. It was almost ghoulish when some articles even listed three or potentially four older Supreme Court Justices who might pass on or resign during President Obama’s terms in office. Oh yea, and his reelection was already in the bag, the one item which was apparently true. There were no mentions of crime rates, homeless people, drug problems amongst teens and young adults, rampant crime or even mention that some who had voted for Senator John McCain might not be as “in” with the election results. No, there was no mention of them or that they were not happy with the idea of fundamentally changing America and feared they were about to experience a rerun of President Jimmy Carter on steroids. Little did they know but they were also going to get a big dose of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and steamrolling over Congress and a pinch of President Lincoln and his disregard for the limitations of the Constitution. The ride was going too long and especially hard for Strong Conservatives, Religious Traditionalists, Strong Foreign Policy and Constitutional Purists. In most of the media, even presumably conservative Fox News with the only exceptions being some conservatives talk radio and television and editorial page writers who predicted a long cold time in the winter grounds of the political world. They were exiled and shunned with much of the media predicting the end of conservatives and the Republican Party. They were almost correct.

 

The presumed common knowledge that any Republican could and would have defeated Hillary Clinton and done so with a far more definitive vote count in the popular vote and Electoral College. Some doubt this bold and seeming obvious logic and ask if Jeb Bush had been the Republican candidate, would he have done as well or even won? Then counting out Jeb Bush, which of the other fifteen remaining candidates would have won? Would Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, John Kasich, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki or Jim Gilmore really have drawn voters to the polls in the numbers that Donald Trump? Would any of these have made a bigger spectacle of the media and their bias and used the media against the system as did Donald Trump? Granted, there might have been a select few, no more than three, who would have honestly had a better than even chance of defeating Hillary Clinton using traditional political theater. Republicans should face the fact that Donald Trump really was the choice looking back because Hillary Clinton had the old style game wrapped up and had the funding to bury any Republican message put forth in the traditional manner. Trump won by making news report him and often only him and that was what was necessary to outdo Hillary Clinton and the billions she had to spend. It was being brash and in the face of the media demanding time that gave Trump the edge other candidates would have lacked. Name a single Republican who could have gotten more media than Hillary Clinton and also been considered electable by normative standards, the means all the others with the possible exception of Ted Cruz whose appeal was even more limited than Donald Trump had.

 

Forward to the media after this Electoral College landslide and what are the media covering. Their main stories are “stolen election,” popular vote, Hillary Won, Electors need be allowed to switch to Hillary Clinton, end Electoral College, American democracy (forgetting that America is actually a Constitutional Democratic Republic with the words other than Democratic having the majority of the weight), Russian hacking, Russia backing Trump, and more Hillary Clinton needs to become the winner by any and all means necessary. When not declaring Donald Trump illegitimate, questioning election results, giving slanted or even false stories about delegates changing their vote on the first ballot of the Electoral College (never happened and most delegates are sworn to vote for the declared winner of their state on the first or first two ballots with some having to do so no matter how many ballot votes are necessitated), then they are talking of all the threats and difficulties which President Trump will face. Some news items are talking up the challenges and negatives in society which they have not mentioned for the past eight years, really weird how all these things, low workforce participation, higher than reported unemployment, crime rates climbing, murder rates at all-time highs, foreign problems in the Middle East, especially Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria which were all under control until Trump won because that caused them to explode, Putin, more Putin, and some even decry that Donald Trump was elected President and has done nothing about any of these problems. Truth is Donald Trump will not actually be elected President until next week after the Electoral College votes and sends their results to Congress and then we technically need to wait for Congress to accept the ballots and then he becomes President Elect, probably some time a week before the Inauguration. Oh, another item is that he does not become President until after the swearing in at approximately noon on January 20, 2017 and then he becomes President with absolutely no advisors, Cabinet, or Administration in any working order as he has to present all his appointees for Senate ratification. These are often a simple formality with an occasional debate and extra few days or a week required and rarely is anyone the President desires on his Cabinet turned down. Expect the Democrats to filibuster and try to prevent some, if not many or even a majority, of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointments with the possibility that some will be refused because the Democrats refuse to permit a vote to ratify their appointments. While this is not unheard of, it has not been a practice and the last time there was even doubts was with President Ronald Reagan and we cannot recall any from before that going back to the first republican President, Abe Lincoln, who was the last to have any appointments to his Cabinet debated harshly.

 

Why the problems with the Cabinet. Well, the media has been debating the problem already. President Trump has chosen two Generals, actually three but the third does not require Congressional approval as he will be the National Security Advisor (but he may require release from the seven years required retirement time before serving in government which falls to Congress), both of whom President Obama let go, forced retirement, fired (you choose the description which fits your thoughts as they all end the same way) thus also require waivers as well as approval to their positions. The generals are General James “Mad Dog” Mattis (ret) as Secretary of Defense and General John Kelly (ret) as Secretary of Homeland security (Lt. General Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor). The positions that the media is all hyperventilating over, having retired Generals appointed from the Marines and Army, are hardly positions where having served in a ranking position in the military would exactly be a disqualification and one might claim an advantageous part to have in one’s background. General John Kelly (ret) served largely in intelligence and that General James “Mad Dog” Mattis (ret) was an infantry and combat arms commander who was loved and highly rated by the men who served under him, both as officers and enlisted down to the lowest grunt. Lt. General Michael Flynn also has a background serving in the Defense Intelligence Agency as well as holding Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. General James “Mad Dog” Mattis service history is extensive and reads U.S. Central Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, U.S. Marine Forces Central Command, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Commander 1st Marine Division, Commander 7th Marine Regiment, and Commander 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. General John Kelly (ret) served as United States Southern Command, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, and Multinational Force West. We would not be exactly upset, saddened or even perturbed should Donald Trump choose a few more Generals as well as others with extensive military background as we fear that such men and women with such experience are going to become a needed commodity sooner rather than later as the world, especially the Middle East and Europe crumble before our eyes.

 

We can expect much of the media going into hypoxic shock from hyperventilating and potentially passing out with some requiring medical treatment for what will eventually be referred to as TRDS, or Trump Reflexive Distress Syndrome. There is probably no cure but as we understand, it is treated by having the afflicted color in coloring books (neatness not required nor is coloring inside the lines), petting puppies and kittens, hugging warm blankets while suckling on a pacifier or thumb, standing in a corner screaming obscenities at the wall (only for the most severe cases) and the always required stress counselling with a trained and licensed Stress Counsellor. There will continue to be long lists of a litany of troubles, criminal waves, lawless cities, and general disasters worldwide which are the direct result of the Trump victory and also the greatest threats to world societal peace and thus things that a President Trump will be responsible for contending with. Of course there is an instant solution to all these ills, find a way to elect Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump and all these problems would disappear until a Republican would get elected, like that would ever happen in a sane world. See, even we are showing signs of stress due to all those who are suffering from TRDS (Trump Reflexive Distress Syndrome). Those who voted approvingly for Donald Trump and have been celebrating this victory should be advised to not turn on their radios or televisions unless they know and have wisely chosen where and from whom to get their news. Choose incorrectly and your sanity will be rocked by the openly biased partisanship against Trump which is close to universal even across the ocean in Europe the leftists are in shock. There is hope that these people can be settled sufficiently such that they can explode again should Donald Trump even run and especially should he win a second term.

 

TRDS or Trump Reflexive Distress Syndrome

 

Puppies at George Mason University
Picture Care of Washington Post

 

But first, why don’t we all agree to wait and see how he performs before denouncing him as a failure because all these problems are out there and he has not done a single thing. You are correct, but that is because he is not the President yet. If you had truly wanted actions taken on these issues you would have been covering them for the past eight years and wondering where President Obama was on these problems but instead you simply celebrated having won the election because that is what it is all about, winning. President Obama summed up the left when he stated simply to the Republicans when they were intentionally locked out of anything to do with the crafting of Obamacare and he blurted accusingly, “We won!” What an argument over any input on such an overreaching piece of legislation but on the other side, Obamacare is pure Democrat Party crafting and did not receive a single Republican vote in the entire two houses of Congress. Unprecedented, and there you have it.

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

Islamic Hierarchy Should be the Target as Well as ISIS

 

Is Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL or al-Qaeda offshoot) honestly that horrific a threat and challenge that it should be treated as an individual threat needing a solution before any further assessment can be conducted? If you were to make this an inquiry of the United States State Department, they would answer in the affirmative and probably make Islamic State the sole terror threat requiring attention. Pose this same question to the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and their answer would place Islamic State as the immediate threat but would follow that up with a litany of other threats hiding in the background, in the darkest of recesses. So, which assessment is the most accurate and which should be utilized to address future actions. Obviously the Pentagon assessment is more in depth while the State Department takes a mere cursory glance seeking the least invasive path and the least need for involvement having a minimal footprint. This demands further explanation more as to why the Pentagon explains a path which is far deeper and requiring greater invasive solutions and the State Department leaves most of the problem unaddressed and untouched. The reasons are simple and would be obvious to any observers. The Pentagon is funded by the width, depth and breadth of a threat and gains funding and importance through greater involvement. The State Department gains funds by having obscured threats which it can assign staff to investigate and report threats in such a manner as to allow them to linger, requiring greater inspections over the longest time frame. Thus any military assessment should be judged knowing their report will make the threat the greatest potential possible while State Department assessment should be realized to define the situation calling for minimal involvement in order to preserve the situational threat generating further investigations. The best path would more often than not be somewhere between the two assessments.

 

So, what do these realities have to do with Islamic State? A fair analogy would be somebody waking one morning feeling poorly and upon looking in the mirror they notice there are red blotches all over their face and further checking they find more such red blotches all over their bodies. Reacting to these skin lesions they make an appointment with a physician. The question becomes what type of physician they should call. The initial assessment is the patient has a skin condition so they might make an appointment to visit a Dermatologist and treat the skin ailment while ignoring the underlying disease. The result is the patient will remain ill and would need visit the dermatologist repeatedly while if they had visited an Internal Medicine Doctor they quite possibly would have been admitted to a hospital and undergo a more rigorous cure than they would receive from a Dermatologist but would also be cured. Simply put, if you have the measles you do not visit a dermatologist, you visit a doctor of Internal Medicine. The State Department is the Dermatologist and the Internal Medicine Physician would represent the Military. So, the military will present a harder path with the greatest potential challenges you will be presented with and some painful choices need to be made. The State Department provides for a simple and immediate repair of a situation while leaving the underlying problems churning away and no difficult choices would be necessitated. So, the path you choose will likely be somewhere between the two, which one you follow more closely will dictate the level of curative actions and their lasting effects.

 

Making war on Islamic State is a requirement of immediate urgency, President elect Donald Trump will need answer the riddle of how far does he wish to peel back the onion. A fully committed military campaign to destroy Islamic State presence in Syria and Iraq could be executed taking no longer than three or four months. The time it would take would depend on how ruthless and how close to barbarism the military forces will be permitted by their Rules of Engagement (ROE). The obvious problem with such tactic is that such a solution does little to permanently change the situation. When choosing civility while fighting barbarians, one makes leaders and financiers unaffected, they will just wait for the opportunity and start right up anew. The sponsors must be made to pay a price, even to threats on their lives, before anything will change. This was proven in all theaters of World War II where German leaders needed to be hunted down even to the last bunkers in Berlin and the Emperor of Japan had to be convinced the allies could utterly destroy his nation without losing any of their military forces. This has also been proven in the current “War on Terror” where we are treating the rash and ignoring the disease.

 

By now most Westerners realize the problems caused by terrorism and the threat posed by Islamic State. Where many fall down is in linking the two problems and realizing that these two problems though often unrelated directly, both have a root cause and any logistics, funding, know-how or other support for both are derived from the same pool of sponsors. The source for both terrorism and Islamic State come from the various wealthy and powerful governing entities throughout the nations of MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and the infrastructure put in place utilizing the tribal make-up of the society often pitting one tribe against another tribe in order to procure additional power and a broader area from which to operate. Should one trace the cash flowing into the coffers of Islamic State one would see a trend that the same monies also fund the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, al-Qaeda and other Sunni terror masters and their operations. Much of the funding originates in or by those close to the Saudi Royal family as well as graft skimming funds from government funding by Egyptians and other Sunni ruled nations supporting the Sunni, Muslim Brotherhood, forces worldwide. There also exists an extensive Shiite terror networks which is not quite as expansive but still a very real threat. These groups are financed, organized and run by the Iranian government and the Grand Ayatollah (Arabic:آية ‌الله العظمی) and Supreme Leader of Iran. The leadership of these terror forces controlled by Iran starts with the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) who incorporate the leadership of Hezballah and oft time Hamas as well. The reach by Iran is not as diffused as are the disparate Sunni terror forces. Much of the reason behind this is simply numbers. The Sunni make-up slightly over four-fifths of Muslims worldwide while the Shiites find themselves around a mere 17% of Muslims worldwide thus Shiite power structure by necessity must be more centralized and rigid while the Sunni can easily create anywhere from three to five separate groups.

 

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC

 

What people in the United States need know is that the current fighting between Islamic derived forces and the Western forces, particularly in and around the Mediterranean Sea is just the latest stage in the war with the Barbary Pirates. Truth be told, the European interests back to around 632 onto the current age have felt constant rumblings of discontent filled by dreams and desires to return to their ages of conquest and swallow Europe as they have tried before only to meet a standoff or complete defeat as was Andalusia, as was Spain. Much of the march of Islam colonizing the entirety of MENA has been accomplished by Sunni though there have been Shia heroes through the ages. Still, this fight to choose the ultimate ruler, the single Caliph who talks the talk but all are curious if one can be found who additionally walks the walk. Despite gaining a sizeable following and demanding he be recognized as Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will not become the Caliph restoring the Caliphate as the requirement is a vast stretch of lands which are individually owned and most have real air power which would decimate any ground assault not possessing sufficient air cover, something which likely plagues al-Baghdadi day and night and he likely dreams of having sufficient fighters and the people to launch adequate air support. The Arab and Islamic worlds are far too tribal and fragmented each refusing to particularly perform feats of great valor and have somebody outside your team ending up with all of the glory. The tribal overriding thought power need be abandoned should Islam ever desire to become great again and have yet a second sense of glory and accomplishment. Such an accomplishment will take a true Caliph, one such as the last Imam, the one who leads the final conquests leading to an Islamic World running under Sharia, the Islamic Code of Laws as preached by Mohammad and the original force.

 

Expansion of Islam Across MENA and into Europe before Ottoman Rule

 

There are realities which must be faced and faced immediately. Before there can be progress the new President already has a large pair of conflagrations he need work out a solution which will probably require a fair number of military service personnel. A President Trump must use all the forces at his disposal in order to remove Islamic State from the picture. After this has been accomplished the next task will be forming a governance or set of governances such that Libya becomes a normative entity capable of trade with the world which will bring wealth to these governing bodies and the people as well. Once Libya has been resolved and returned to viability it will become time to deal with Russia and do similar for Syria. Russia will press for the entire area be returned to Bashir al-Assad while the remaining “rebel” forces will protest loudly and just as vehemently as they have all along. Meanwhile, a refuge for the Kurdish population will necessarily be needed while Turkey and her President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, are edging towards conquest and taking lands formerly belonging to both Syria, a lifelong enemy, and Iraq, whose Saddam Hussein had stashed thousands of barrels of nerve agent and other chemical and nuclear weaponry in an attempt to evade justice. Erdoğan’s hopes and dreams of reestablishing the Ottoman Empire will be muted. Once again all these solutions do little to nothing about remedies for the tribal alliances and primitive culture which keeps the nations of MENA suffering while other nations quite distant as in the Horn of Africa and as far east as Pakistan and Afghanistan are all experiencing national traumas from forces at the tribal area. These problems were exasperated by the imposition of the Sikes-Picot Agreement of 1916 which set arbitrary borders, making self-rule all but impossible. Sikes-Picot ignored tribal alliances and clan structures splitting these entities between three nations in some cases and two at others which simply added wood to the fire. Sikes-Picot also redrew the maps of Eastern Europe breaking up the Austria-Hungarian Empire. All of this eventually led to World War II and has set in motion the potential for a third shooting war, World War III. The problem is amplified with the knowledge that Eastern Europe is also facing economic distress along with threats from Russia to incorporate them back under soviet style land and they wish to remain free.

 

These areas are powder kegs just waiting for the fire from a mistakenly tossed match or misread of any situation to have the entirety of these places to sheepishly huddle under Russian wings. The United States lack of influence throughout the MENA area as well as the entirety of the globe for the last eight years has left foreign policy in such turmoil as to provide room for threats from all sides and levels. The world, and the United States and allies in particular, are facing an invigorated Russia, a China willing to manufacture Islands in order to further their goal of taking certain Islands which they claim as have other nations. These threats are backed by a new and proficient fleet China is building, a worthy blue-water fleet. Add to this the dual threat of a nuclear armed North Korea who has already developed and tested a number of nuclear warheads and appears to be attempting to manufacture an EMP device to knock out the power grid in North America thus neutering the United States military and causing widespread death. Along with North Korea we also will be facing a nuclear armed Iran who has the missiles with advanced guidance and range capabilities with which to deliver them. Once Iran is confirmed to have nuclear weapons one can safely assume that Saudi Arabia will call in their markers for their financing of the Pakistani bomb thus instantly becoming a nuclear armed nation as well. After this the proliferation across all of MENA will likely occur with blinding speed. From that point the rest of the world will be rapidly acquiring nuclear weapons and from there to annihilation of the human race is a short trip and it all might take place in a blink of an eye. It is truly sobering realizing how so very close we are from slipping beyond the cusp into a reality even Hollywood was unable to imitate believably.

 

The race now is to educate and bring the third world somewhere even with the advanced world. By this we mean to teach them from our mistakes such that the world benefits. These newly acquired nuclear capabilities must be impressed not to use them for the sake of humanity. At the same time the world need share its many secrets and the desire to go into space beyond just the solar system but to other star systems even beyond our cluster setting out to truly become a space-born people. That need be our goal if we plan on being a long lived species. I guess we will soon know if the Earth will become the origin of a truly enlightened space based society or will the Earth need await the next great catastrophe to rid it of a stagnant humanity so another intelligence reaches senescence and go off into space and be the long lived Earth born species.

 

Beyond the Cusp