Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the Messy Middle East

 

We may as well write one summary of the different threats to war and actual wars in an all-in-one article. Apparently the Iran negotiations appear to have the most dire predictions of which business as usual is probably the biggest threat of them all. Thus far no final agreement appears to be on the horizon and would have been out of the question and all the sanctions and potentially more would be the current business as usual. It is abundantly obvious that United States President Obama and his Secretary of State Kerry are willing to roll over and accept whatever crumbs the Iranians will permit them and still pronounce the ‘it’s not a treaty it’s a Presidential arms agreement’ treaty, the peace in our time agreement which has Secretary Kerry’s and Iran Foreign Minister Zarif’s signatures on it promising that there will be no unnecessary or over hostile acts by the Iranian government and their work (not that there was any) towards the production of nuclear weapons for ten years, as a momentous diplomatic agreement which will place Iran on the road to international acceptance and into the world of nations. The signs that there will be an agreement, not treaty, completed by the deadline, or a few days, months, years later after more serious negotiations, of the end of June with a potential aligning ceremony in the Oval Office on the Fourth of July which will just be further evidence of the importance of the reaching an accord. Then there are the assurances and uncertainties all depending on your source as to whether or not the deal in progress is an advantageous or detrimental agreement with the numbers of sceptics steadily appearing to increase the closer we all get to an agreement. The only assurances we have is that this agreement will be beneficial to all and that the people telling us this belong to one of two groups, those reporting about the particulars that even the negotiators admit is uncertain if the agreement will encompass said assurance or are part of the providers of information who are attempting to make any agreement a positive no matter how many half-truths and outright-lies they have to shovel to a swarm of ever hungry media swarm all in an effort to further President Obama’s second greatest achievement in office after Obamacare. Such a comparison alone should worry even the greatest supporters of the President and this deal.

 

So, what can we know for sure? For one, it is that the sanctions will be lifted, all of them, or as many as President Obama can humanly bring to an end. This has been made evident through encouragements given to many leaders of industry, particularly the oil and gas industry. It has been reported that the White House has encouraged the chief executives of the Dutch Shell company, Total of France, Italy’s Eni and Lukoil of Russia to initiate talks to normalize and expand the Iranian energy sector of their economy. There have been signals, mostly in Russia, China and Europe and not-so-much in the United States (quite curious this is) to also put forth feelers and prepare the groundwork and even go so far as to agree on principles of agreements which can be made to go active the very second that any P5+1 and Iranian agreement is signed and in effect. This has been the message over the past two months and has yet to diminish in its optimism despite the negotiations appearing to crumble as Iran pulls back and refuses to agree on what one would think are some of the most vital necessities for an agreement which would be observed and have inspections of such a nature as to make such compliances enforceable. These overtures have been made while the White House continues to make statements purporting normal progress at the talks and a general sense of agreement on some of the most vital issues. President Obama has communicated through channels in the media that there will be an intensive inspection routine including snap without warning inspections while the Iranians continue to believe that the negotiations specifically forbade snap inspections nor allow inspections of what Iran denotes as military infrastructure and bases nor permit any inspection without ample and reasonable, to be determined by Iran on an individual basis, notifications before Iran will permit any single inspection. The White House insists that Iran will come forth on its previous military and nuclear procedures, accomplishments and other vital and necessary information even on particularly touchy questions which within the last week began its metamorphosis into a very different animal where suddenly the Administration claims that there is little to be gained by forcing the point of Iran reporting its previous work as we know where they have gone and what they have achieved and everything has been above board all while the Iranians remain quite intransigent on permitting inspections of military bases or revealing the information on all previous nuclear activities and military progress in related fields. From apparent media reports over the past few days the Administration appears to have become omniscient on all things concerning Iranian past progress, military research and development, military progress on missile technology (which to many observers to be directed on developing a reliable ICBM which will supplement their ballistic missile inventory adding the ability to directly strike the United States which some may find an odd direction for such intense research if one is not developing nuclear weapons to place atop those ICBMs) and possible work on a nuclear trigger mechanism which is vital to the production of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. This was supposed to settle the arguments that Iran may be hiding vital work which would include some very damning information casting the long shadow of doubt on Iranian denials to be researching the industrial development of nuclear weapons.

 

Still, the date of the presumed coming out party has been set. The final particulars of the United States surrender are being completed, the promise that after the agreement has been put in place that all sanctions will be removed has been given though not admitted and one of the latest individual pieces has been the apparent agreement that the P5+1 (read United States) will provide Iran with several light water reactors which produce plutonium which is useable for production of nuclear weapons at a far less aggressive rate than the heavy water reactor at Arak. Further, Iran shall be provided with other technologies for civilian uses of nuclear power and enriched uranium and lastly, recently leaked information indicates that the Fordo nuclear enrichment site, which was built into the heart of a mountain and is considered impervious to any bombing attack, shall remain operating with promises that it will not be utilized for enrichment of uranium for nuclear weapons and instead will limit the enrichment cycles to keep them beneath weapons grade of over ninety-percent. Secretary of State John Kerry has affirmed that the United States has already relaxed several sanctions and has stated the sanctions will be lifted immediately after any signing of an agreement without having performed any steps for verifying Iranian compliance with whatever limitations and restrictions that President Obama would request as part of the agreement. This has made Senator Robert Menendez (D- N.J.) sufficiently perturbed and suspicious that he has introduced legislation to extend the soon expiring sanctions over the Iranian missile research and development on Iran for another ten years as Senator Menendez is far from convinced that any progress has been or will be made as part of the current negotiations. Perhaps this should be the position of everybody else as the reassurances from Secretary Kerry and the President and his spokespersons leave much clarification and even initial information on many subjects with missile development is chief amongst them.

 

Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Iran are juxtaposed Saudi Arabia, Egypt and in a loose and unofficial manner including Israel. The problem is most obvious in Yemen where Iranian backed and armed Houthis are in an open civil war for the control of Yemen now mostly attempting to complete their takeover by solidifying their presence across the south-western third of Yemen, something Saudi Arabia is making particularly difficult. The Saudis are quite wary of permitting Iran from militarily threatening complete control and the ability to cause a severe blockage of trade around much of the world and particularly about European-Asian trade as well as almost one-third of the world’s oil supplies and much of Europe’s lifeline to Arabian oil. The first choke point is the Straits of Hormuz and the second is the straits named Bab-el-Mandeb that controls passage from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to eventually the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean and which can be controlled from the south-western-most point in Yemen which remains just beyond Iranian reach for the time being. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have vested interests in the Bab-el-Mandeb waterway remaining open and Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation nations have a vested interest in keeping the Straits of Hormuz clear and freely operating. Israel additionally has a vested interest in keeping Bab-el-Mandeb open as all trade out of Eilat’s ports in this southern-most city in all of Israel and major shipping point to Asia, something many believe is at the heart of the future of Israel, and who would even dare to challenge that. Further, having Yemen under the influence of Iran and with that, the potential of Iran to furtively place some special units from the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps) into Yemen to spearhead an invasion into Saudi Arabia’s underbelly and then once the Saudis had dispatch troops to guard the southern border, then an Iranian led revolt by the Shiites who mostly live in the north-east of Saudi Arabia making that a second front likely tying up most of the Saudi forces making the nation susceptible to a mass Iranian assault timing all of this for during an announced exchange of forces thus allowing for Iran to at least have twice as many troops in southern Iraq than usual and also presenting a potential for turning those troops southward invading Saudi Arabia across the entirety of the border shared with Iraq where IRGC and other Iranian forces deployed to fight ISIS which has invaded much of the Syria and Iraq while making wild claims about being the heart of the next Caliphate. This would satisfy, if successful, one of the boasts Iran has regularly made about the Holy Cities, the most holy in Islam, of Mecca and Medina must be wrest from the hands of the deceivers and apostates, the Iranian Shiite name when referencing any Sunni Muslims. It would also be done in a direct challenge and risk infuriating ISIS which is also interested in the Holy Cities and would consider their being in the hands of Shiites as a moral imperative for ISIS and their Sunni Muslims to liberate them from the apostate hands of Iranian Shiites.

 

Now let us have a quick discussion of ISIS and their claims of being the next Caliphate. This claim at this early stage is a bit presumptuous though over-the-top bombastic claims such as the ISIS claim of being the new Caliphate are apparently part and parcel of the culture and thus should be read as such. Is ISIS a threat? Of course it is but keep in mind that it had originally served as the al-Qaeda branch in Iraq fighting the United States during the Second Iraq War under President George W. Bush where these al-Qaeda forces had been adequately eradicated that President Obama brought all the troops home declaring in a speech at Fort Bragg on Dec. 14, 2011 where he stated, “It’s harder to end a war than begin one. Indeed, everything that American troops have done in Iraq–all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding and the building, and the training and the partnering–all of it has led to this moment of success. Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations. And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home. This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making.” ISIS will remain as a problem for as long as the United States continues its little trip down memory lane returning to their isolationist roots but the sooner that there is a new President, hopefully one who realizes the role the United States played in the world as without American leadership who can the world follow? After World War II the United States dictated to its enemies as well as its friends in the world to lay down their arms as the world had to be made such that Europe would find some manner of non-belligerence and thus unable to start yet another conflagration which envelops the rest of the world endangering all. The United States was not going to allow Europe drag her into another conflict, especially when the toll for World War II was figured. Japan even went so far as to insist that they be deprived of a military force capable of attacking her neighbors be put into their new constitution. The United States also made sure to have a prolonged military presence in all of the western nations as are the Soviets in theirs behind the, Winston Churchill‘s coined phrase, ‘Iron Curtain.’ With what ISIS has claimed is their aim, perhaps a similar deal should have been placed on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) thus completely covering the lands which were affected by the war. Instead, the Middle East actually faced a difficulty forced upon them by the European powers of France, Britain, Russia and Italy after World War I named Sykes-Picot Agreement where states were carved out of the colonial areas which the European powers had controlled for over two centuries. These states looked, for all intents and purposes, as randomly drawn but further delving into the agreement it becomes obvious that where the lines were less important than was repaying certain promises and not others and leaving states which could never function as normal nations as their citizenry were from different factions which would require a strong and somewhat viscous dictator more than a caring leader. Iran was fortunate enough to remain unchanged as she had remained Persia and beyond the colonial disciplines of the European overlords. This is one area where ISIS has gotten things correct, Sykes-Picot was a disaster needing remedial action, though combining all into one homogenous Caliphate where the people, more likely subjects, would all need to meet a purity test or face death or reeducation. ISIS has risen to prominence largely due to the entirety of the MENA regions being unstable, surprise-surprise, which had come partially from the mess put in place after World War I. In many ways, by not arranging to have the nations covering individual areas such as an area for the Kurds even named Kurdistan, and unifying Sunni Areas separate from Shia areas, and place borders respecting tribal areas and allowing the people to make suggestions and using them wisely, not nearly random large nations which would be so consumed by inner strife that they would be unable to mount external troubles, which also did not work as we saw with the decade of war between Iraq and Iran. This entire false drawing of nations was doomed to fail and produce an even stronger order which would eventually reunite many of the Islamic Arabs into a larger and ready to conquer group, it is just ISIS will not be that group as it currently operates. There will eventually be a leader who will find the chord which will bring people to their cause far more willingly and not by force and threat of arms. First, the MENA must find their way through this current crisis and possibly agree to redraw the lines across the Middle East divided by natural lines which will produce a more homogeneous populace for each state so that it can function as an economic unit more than a military unit as the Middle East itself has for centuries been an area which thrived through trading between Asia and Europe which it could again find their niche as well as trading their own goods, especially petroleum which unfortunately will be a major factor in the redrawing should such take place.

 

The problem will arise due to there being vested interests and moneyed interests in controlling valuable assets, especially oil. A very large example would be Saudi Arabia which will never permit the taking of their oil fields just because the majority living there are Shiites nor would they ever release their ownership holding of Mecca and Medina even to an international Islamic trust. Iran would never allow its oil fields to be given to another group made up of Arab descendants because the major population is not Persian. Any future settlement in the MENA area is going to take some serious and strong Islamic leadership who are more interested in helping the people than they are in glorifying themselves in this life which will always have some basis in control of resources. As things stand right now there is no real nation of Syria nor is there any nation of Iraq, both are consumed in internal and external conflicts tearing them apart. There were those who called for dividing Iraq into three nations, one Sunni, one Shia, and one Kurdish. This still would not have been advantageous for the Christians and the Yazidi and other tribes with either minority Islamic sects or older religions such as those following a version of Zoroastrianism. Still, any plan was bound to hit some snags but such a division might have produced a better system that would have been better able to resist ISIS and their onslaught which currently has Sunni areas of Iraq either facing Shia vengeance or Sunni purist vengeance without any government in place of their own and no trained military as the Iraqi Army was currently majority Shia and has retreated to protect Baghdad and the Shiite south with large amounts of Iranian assistance and now apparently United States assistance in supporting the Shiite operations as the Iranian and United States troops are quartered together, have joint planning sessions and the United States arming and close air support is coordinated through the Iraqi government which is under the strict influence of the Iranian government which has left the Sunni and the Kurds out in the cold and on their own. This has produced much more serious consequences for the Sunni who had depended on the Iraqi government and military for their protection which has left them at the mercies of whichever force has control of their lives each hour while the Kurds far back even during the United States military occupation after removing Saddam Hussein from power had become a semi-autonomous region with their own militias and governance allowing them to survive without any assistance from the Iraqi government, military or otherwise. The Kurds have become a safe haven for the minorities and have provided better and more varied protection for minorities than the United States and their supported Shiite government in the south leaving the Sunni completely out in the cold. What can be done to settle the problems in the MENA regions will take somebody with a plan which answers the many difficulties such would involve and the means of enforcing such against vested interests that would be less than advantageous for the population. The people need to be the primary concern and their needs must be the overriding priority forcing the drawing of any future borders. There must not be any restrictions as to the number of states, their interactive cooperation and other concerns. It is likely that a loose federation will prove the best solution, I am just glad that I do not have to find the best solution though if I find the magical resolution, I will be pushing it here where unfortunately few of the really powerful people will find it, at least not as things stand or maybe I am mistaken. This will need to wait for a different time. The one other area we have yet to address will not make it into this article, but I have written much already on the difficulties within Israel and the need for another brilliant solution here where none can exist that both sides would agree upon as both sides believe they have the unassailable right to all of Jerusalem if not also all of the lands themselves.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Where Does BDS Anti-Israel Movement Get Funding?

 

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions)Movement claims to be a grass roots institution simply out to make the world understand the cruelty and inhuman treatment the Israelis foist upon the Arabs and how Israel has its designs on stealing everything through the settlements grabbing up all the Arab lands. About the only thing they do not purport is that Israel is guilty of its seeking a ‘Greater Israel’ which is a reference to the lands granted to Abraham would include everything from the Euphrates River to the Nile River. That is just another libelous accusation made through twisting the words in Torah or some of the accompanying volumes of books of commentary on the Torah, Bible (Old Testament) and even volumes of books commenting on the commentary which in turn have books commenting on those commentaries. When your religion has been around for over three-thousand years you tend to gather a whole lot of commentaries and directives which certain subgroups within Judaism hold sacred and live by them some unbelievable strictly and others close enough. The one thing you are most certainly guaranteed is that any subject you wish to choose you will very likely find Jews in some commentary arguing for the proposed view you seek. Sometimes the position is one actually followed by some group of Jews and other times the person takes that unfavorable side simply to play devil’s advocate and provide challenges to another presumed wise person who abides by the opposing argument. So what we end up having are some commentaries made not as an argument or presumed hope of them being followed but being used as a tool to push some to complete their arguments and frame their discourse more succinctly and more accurately. When somebody comes to you and claims that the Talmud instructs the Jews to do something that sounds somewhat ridiculous or not at all Jewish from what you have observed, then it is most likely one of those Devil’s advocate arguments, which in itself is an odd way to argue when one considers that traditional Judaism does not believe in the Devil or fallen angels and Hell; but that will need to wait for another time when I have been taught Torah and some of those commentaries no matter how obscure.

 

The BDS movement and idea has really been in the news in Israel lately and for good reason. First we had the arch-terrorist Jibril Rajoub (a.k.a. Abu Rami) whose first position within Fatah was to organize and take part in activities in and around Hevron to the detriment of the Jews; this was presumably his responsibility in efforts to end the so-called occupation. In 1968 he was arrested for aiding Egyptian officers in making their way back to Egypt without being caught by the Israeli authorities for which he spent four months in prison. He was only sixteen at this time but still well on his way. While in prison he was influenced and joined Fatah which after serving his prison sentence he took up his assigned duties. In September of 1970 his future terror prospects looked very dim as he was caught and arrested for lobbing a grenade at an Israeli army bus near Hebron. Jibril Rajoub was tried and found guilty leading to his being sentenced to life in prison. Well, obviously he did not remain there as in 1985 he was part of a one-thousand-one-hundred-fifty prisoner release in exchange for three Israeli hostages held by the PFLP terror group. His colorful history had him arrested for minor offences, all things considered, and served additional time in prison before being expelled into Lebanon from where he found his way to Tunisia where he worked closely as an aid to the most infamous of the Arab arch-terrorists, Yasser Arafat. As part of the Oslo Accords he was granted a new lease on continuing his efforts to destroy Israel and this past week he played that position to the maximum. As the Palestinian Football Association President presiding over soccer teams he also took the opportunity at the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association or in English International Federation of Association Football) 65th annual Congress which met in Switzerland to announce his intentions to push for Israel to be unlisted and booted from the football world’s governing body which would have denied Israel the right to play in any FIFA tournament or to even play against FIFA teams. Such a ban would probably have mushroomed to other sports and made Israeli athletes persona non grata in the world of sports. Jibril Rajoub played his filing in the media like a trained professional instigator by his alternately claiming he would file the motion and then retract that statement only to deny he had detracted the statement and the world was all titillated watching every nuanced move orchestrated for maximum coverage, and boy did he get coverage. Some might ask what does an Arab Palestinian Authority official have to do with the BDS movement which is a grassroots organizations with no actual structure, simply they have supporters and volunteer organizers and activists which is why the BDS movement does not have official offices or accounts in any banks or financial institutions as there are no payrolls or anything nefarious like an international structure which coordinates the events and spends millions of dollars, Euros, Pounds or whatever currency of the realm is required. We will get to the connection, be patient please. The eventual end to the Jibril Rajoub staged a well-orchestrated routine where he did not file as he was aware from the very beginning that he would not have sufficient support to get Israel banned, but it did give some demonstrators the opportunity to burst into the meeting hall and throw red flags at the Israeli representatives and chant some call to boot Israel from soccer. These were presumably grassroots BDS supporters who just happened to all appear on the same day at the same time replete with red flags to throw at the Israeli delegation and so conveniently so as to garner more press coverage of the idea that Israel was subversive even to something as pure and good as soccer. Never mind the other woes FIFA is suffering right now as everybody knows that soccer is the one sport that united the world, well, apparently except for Israel? Well, not quite as Israel is still a member, a respected member of FIFA.

 

Right on the heels of the FIFA fiasco was the British National Union of Students (NUS) voting to boycott all things Israel including every Israeli company without regard to its location because the BDS movement is growing and realizing the reality that it is not the settlements alone that are the problem, it is the existence of Israel itself and that the Jewish State must be brought down and the Jews punished for existing at all, and to even strive and believe themselves worthy of a state of their own, how nineteenth century is that? They filed Motion 518a which was titled “Solidarity with Palestine: Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions” which was tabled. The NUS was the same body which refused to take any measures to boycott or even denounce ISIS at their meetings last year but Israel needs to be brought low. The vote and everything about the BDS movement at the NUS conference was denounced and voided by the Universities UK which is the actual ruling body and has the sole power in areas such as the BDS protests and any divestments, sanctions or boycotts (did I get that all in the wrong order, shame on me for ignoring the BDS name). In a press release the Universities UK stated “firmly opposes academic boycotts on the basis that they are inimical to academic freedom, including the freedom of academics to collaborate with other academics.” They continued emphatically emphasizing “Given the reported perception in Israel that UK universities support an academic boycott. The board of Universities UK wishes to confirm its previously stated position that it is firmly opposed to any academic boycott of Israeli universities.” They added just to make sure everybody understands their position and displeasure with the NUS grandstanding and offensive behavior in this matter stating that, “The board also confirms its view that all universities must uphold, in the interests of free expression of ideas, the fundamental right of academics to question national and international policies.” That put that BDS effort to bed once and for all for this year, it will return next year.

 

Finally we had the little BDS confusion at Orange where their CEO Stephane Richard made comments after receiving pressures from BDS activists in Europe and especially from Egypt as well which cause Stephane Richard to panic and immediately turn to the usual European response when anti-Semites challenge their position on the ‘Jews and their little nation’ Stephane Richard simply agreed and denounced Israel claiming that Orange would break off their agreement with Partner Communications, the Orange affiliate in Israel, except that it would be costly due to potential lawsuits being filed in those unfriendly Israeli courts who would condemn Orange despite any evidences provided claiming they don’t really hate the Jews. For the week following the outspoken and base hatred expressed by Orange CEO Stephane Richard, we have now been serenaded as is Stephane Richard is planning in asking for Israel’s hand in marriage. We have heard what a lovely nation Israel is and how important our good relations are to Orange in general and CEO Stephane Richard in particular. The apology has been laid on like a thick, rich layer of whipped cream atop a luscious ice cream Sunday with three flavors of ice cream and rich chocolate and caramel heated nice and hot poured all over the top until it pooled at the bottom. We must all wonder if next week that Orange CEO Stephane Richard will be buying Israel a beautiful bouquet of roses or will it be an outlandish floral arrangement containing no less than one-hundred flowers, bouquet so large it will take their large truck to deliver the flowers. Actually, it would be best if everyone would stop with the hypocrisy and just let everything lie and it will pass. All the backtracking and false compliment and flattery is getting old and stale faster than they are delivered. A simple ‘We’re sorry but we panicked’ would have sufficed as the Israelis have seen worse than this and even in the past couple of weeks.

 

Now that we have taken a quick look-see of the BDS movements activities for the last couple of weeks one can realize that whoever is financing this effort worldwide has some very deep pockets. The reality is that the financers of these BDS efforts are constantly claiming to be out of money and being unable to pay their employees and if billions, if not trillions of Euros, dollars, Pounds Sterling, Pecos, Ruble, Wan or any other currency and denomination and need it immediately. The BDS movement used to have another name and was started in 1948 around May 14th oddly enough. The original system of boycotting, divesting and sanctioning Israel was the Arab League boycott and Arab League blacklist. The boycott is obvious and the blacklist was a long list of companies which either used Israeli provided parts in their products or were otherwise entangled with Israeli interests. For quite a while the Arab League required that every shipment brought into their nations had to sign an affidavit stating that none of the products had Israeli parts and that their company had no relationship including selling to Israel. This eventually caused a problem as that would have meant that the Arab nations would not be able to buy most weapons systems, especially from the United States and many companies in Europe.

 

There was one particular article which revealed much about the BDS movement on Arutz Sheva titled Who is Really Behind BDS? We Can Cut Off BDS at the Spigot”. Here are a few of the more vital quotes which will fill in much of the debate about the BDS movement and after which I will attempt to give some additional information. Much of the article was items many of us realized and knew but the placing them all in a coherent and cognizant manner drew the big picture beautifully. I would advise that we all read the article itself at the link above as the author was quite complete as he traced the history and the current modus operandi of a terrorist organization using political means to further their financially based efforts to isolate Israel as well as politically and socially isolating Israel making even giving minimal support in some meaningless conversation to be an unforgivable sin and breach of polite behavior. What is sickening is how many Jewish groups are out there using very enticing and misleading names who almost exclusively back the BDS movement and are themselves working to destroy Israel. They use Lawfare which is using the courts to attack Israel and tie up any pro-Israel groups in the courts fighting against suits brought merely as nuisances but they are effective in forcing these groups supporting Israel spending inordinate amounts of time defending themselves from the attacks and thus not protecting Israel in the media and through other programs. This was the modus operandi of the IRS auditing an astounding number of conservative or libertarian groups during the year and a half before the 2012 elections thus preventing these groups from campaigning. Many of these groups were small Tea Party groups who made the mistake of calling themselves ‘Pleasant Valley Tea Party Association’ which got them immediate and in depth invasive IRS auditing and slowing requests for tax exempt status where the questions got to the point of being ludicrous, but they did prevent them from campaigning against President Obama, the same tactic appears to be used against many pro-Israel groups.

 

The article pointed out that “The Arab league spokesman confirmed that all data of the Arab League boycott and Arab League blacklist has now been transferred to BDS, working under the control of each PLO legation in more than 100 countries, under the supervision of the PLO Negotiations Department, which coordinates activities with the central offices of the Palestinian Authority.” This is one of the driving reasons that Mahmoud Abbas desires to become a recognized entity and thus allow the Arab Palestine Authority to open embassies and consulates in every nation and major city worldwide. This is important as the article points out the manner as to how the BDS movement is financed when they pointed out, “Since supervision of funds for Palestinian humanitarian services in the PA or UNRWA hardly exists, and since more than one nation provides cash for each of the Palestinian humanitarian services, that means that a cash surplus exists which PA can allocate for BDS activists to finance their operations.” This allows the Arab Palestinian Authority to distribute cash funds to their BDS organizers, instigators, activists and also pay for the establishment of on campus BDS groups who keep up the defamation of Israel year round and often make life on campus for anybody outwardly Jewish to become a living nightmare as they are heckled and hassled everywhere they go on campus and in some instances the harassment reached the point of violence against the Jews much like when the Jews were removed and disallowed from holding teaching positions or attending universities in the late 1930s in Germany.

 

There are two related statements about the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) not ratifying the OSLO Accords and thus being free to act in any manner they wished and not be in violation of the Oslo Accords as they had never ratified the treaty. It was the PLO and Yasser Arafat’s way of crossing his fingers so he could say anything without actually completing the deal and complying with the agreements. The first points out how the public have never been informed of this treachery and deceit despite their once being well known but now not referenced or taught and thus forgotten by most the first commentary pointed out that even a far leftist organization and media outlet found this behavior reprehensible. The article states, “Only three weeks after the Oslo Accords were initialed on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993, pending ratification by both sides, a prominent left wing journalist, Pinchas Inbari, reporting for the Mapam (Meretz) newspaper Al Hamishmar from the PLO headquarters in Tunis, reported that PLO leader Yassir Arafat announced that on the day of the scheduled PLO ratification, October 6, 1993, the PLO leader could not or would not convene the necessary quorum for ratification. As a result, the Oslo Accords have gone unratified to this day.” The point that the people were never really made aware of the perfidy committed by Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, his second in command, as they point out that, “What has escaped public attention is that the PLO never ratified the ‘declaration of principles’, the most fundamental document of the Israel-Palestinian Oslo Accords, nor did the PLO ever cancel its charter to destroy Israel, which was another major clause in that accord.” The basic truth is that for the entire time since September of 1993 when the Oslo Accords were formally put in place, Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas and the rest of the executive council of the PLO and thus of the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA or as we refer to them because they are no different than the Arabs residing or fleeing Syria as well as the Arabs of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, the Arab Palestinian Authority) were recognized of representing an organization which did not actually exist as the Oslo Accords were never signed by the Arab side. The Western nations went along with this facade because the alternative was too horrible for them to even consider, support the Jews and Israel in retaining all the lands promised them by treaty that the Europeans and United States as well as the League of Nations and subsequently the United Nations such that the treaties which affect the defined borders of Israel are the actual International Laws thus everything else is some weird manifestation of anti-Semitism, anti-Israel, and anti-Zionism. The BDS financial system is known fully well by the Western nations and the Arab nations as they both pour trillions of Euros, dollars, however you wish to measure the financial cesspool the Arab Palestinian Authority and related groups such as Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PLO, PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), and numerous other groups and families all benefit from this inflow on monies as long as they are sufficiently high enough in the pecking order that they are trusted to use at least a pittance of the cash allotted you to spend on the betterment of the Arab suffering if it is not too much of a problem.

 

The reality is that much of the monies sent to the Arab Palestinian organizations is siphoned off for use in the multi-billion dollar BDS organizational leaders, activists, organizers, and antagonists who all need funding in order to achieve their assigned goals. The full time BDS representatives and leadership that exist on almost every campus and in every city where there exists an Arab Palestinian consulate, embassy, or simply an office, they become the cash delivery resource who are sent probably funding in the millions if not more to finance the BDS movement activities in their assigned region. Such items as fees for using a park grounds for a demonstration, the signs, banners and other items do not simply appear out of the thin air, the microphones, bullhorns, whistles, speakers, tables, literature and everything else which goes into a successful week long demonstration on a university or college campus. These Arab Palestinian Authority outlets, be they embassies, consulates or merely offices and in some cases a completely underground operation, all are used as the pipelines to the BDS main middle managing organizers, publicists, media contact point people, marshals, and such cannot afford to fly to Ramallah every month for their allowance as that just might draw some international attention, though maybe I am giving the world too much credit as the world often appears to be capable of not seeing any of the thousands of rockets fired into Israel at civilian targets and only see the Israeli response and demand Israel stop its aggressions while saying nothing about the rockets, ambush tunnels and expanding use of young children as makeshift bullet proof vests. One has to grant that having a four year old screaming while strapped to one’s chest during a firefight is beyond the cusp and right into the deep recesses of evil insanity which permits such irreverence for life. Meanwhile we have the PLO organized, Fatah manned and Arab Palestinian Authority (PA) financed BDS movement which is simply an extension of the original Arab boycott and blacklist of companies ‘contaminated’ by Israeli exposure. The BDS movement is the PLO terrorist group’s attempt to take their economic war against Israel worldwide and as we have seen in these quotes and these actions that the BDS movement pushes a complete isolation of Israel in all venues including goods and services, music performances, academics, speeches by Israel supporters must be forced to cancel and finally politically isolated until Israel has been diminished and dies a natural death as any living, breathing, compassionate human entity would if left in complete isolation not permitted any interaction and starved of life’s necessities.

 

Fortunately there are sufficient numbers of leaders and strong willed people that are fighting the BDS syndrome by simply acting and being humane and human. Israelis and their government are finally wakening to the damage caused by the BDS movement and other related groups and hopefully there are those who can at least dry up much of the Western monies from financing BDS forcing the dictatorial rulers in the Middle East to pay for all of the BDS. But this fight is far more than just the BDS movement or even the government financed groups which excoriate Israel ranting about the worst treatment or how the Israelis treat the people held hostage and starved in Gaza. Let’s use this as the example. Gaza received two thirds of their electricity and all their drinking water from Israel and Israeli companies are not paid by the Arab Palestinians or their governing representatives. That is but the tip of the situation. Any nations wishing to provide goods for Gaza may do so as long as there are no dual use items or actual weapons included in their shipment and the Israelis will deliver every ounce of it into Gaza for Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PLO or the PA to distribute. Additionally, Israel provides tens of truckloads of food, medical supplies and other items daily even including every single day of last summer’s military operations in Gaza as nothing stops these transfers as the Israelis have no desire to have the people of Gaza suffer in any manner. Unfortunately for the residents of Gaza the same cannot be said for their governing entities. Often Israel had sent the trucks with food which is perishable if not taken and stored properly with some degree of immediacy. These truckloads were simply left in the sun to rot by the rulers in Gaza just so there would be an emergency and food shortage for visiting United Nations, European Union or whoever was scheduled to tour Gaza. Often during these inspections or visits the power lines from Israel are disconnected and once the parliament in Gaza covered their windows with blackout blankets and had photographers take pictures of their meeting in the darkness so they should have stories written about how the Israelis refused to provide sufficient electricity and they are forced to work in complete darkness. The blankets did not quite completely cover the windows and the bright sunlight outside could be seen in many of the pictures, but still there was an international hue and cry demanding that Israel fulfill their obligation to provide the electricity that the government in Gaza had paid for, despite their never having paid one single Agorot, let alone Shekels.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Please Name With Whom Israel is to Negotiate?

 

Israel is consistently demanded upon to negotiate an end to the occupation and allow for an Arab Palestinian nation to be defined with the borders to be established along the 1949 Armistice lines with mutually agreed upon exchanges of lands. The question is with whom should Israel negotiate? Mahmoud Abbas refuses to sit with any Israeli delegations approved by the governing coalition though he gladly meets with members of the opposition who hold little power or with anti-Israel and anti-Zionist Jewish NGOs mostly from the United States, Europe and some from within Israel who are mostly if not completely subsidized by European NGOs or even the European Union or individual European national governments. These sit downs often are held in Ramallah and with a large map of what Mahmoud Abbas demands are the actual borders of Palestine which depicts all of Israel including the beaches of Tel Aviv and Nahariya with not even the slimmest segment of Israel left standing. One might inquire as to how Mahmoud Abbas plans on determining the government for anything which results in becoming the Arab state. Will he finally hold elections which would appear to be a normal result of the forming of a new nation? But Abbas has refused to hold elections totally skipping the scheduled 2009 election cycle out of fears that he would be voted from office. He is now in the tenth year of a four year term, which many would probably claim is very telling as to his actual legitimate power. Abbas has declared himself, for all intents and purposes, President for life, and that might not be too much longer should he actually agree to borders and the founding of the state he claims to desire above life itself, which very well might be the price he could pay. Israel would not have anything to do with his sudden demise as there are those from within Hamas, Islamic Jihad, ISIS and even his own Fatah Party, PLO and Palestinian Authority who would permanently remove him from office. It is interesting that Mahmoud Abbas holds those final three leading posts plus now signs documents as President of Palestine. The world has never known a man with so many titles who wields so little power and controls perhaps the few blocks of his fortified office complex. The one truism which should be made known, especially to the Europeans and United States President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry, is that Mahmoud Abbas is a man whose power ranges from the tip of his right hand to the tip of his left hand whenever he stands with his arms extended, and that is the largest area he can claim to control. Abbas is in no position to sign anything which would have any meaning ten minutes after it was signed, if it stood that long.

 

What makes matters even worse is that the leadership of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the other two main power brokers for the time being, have all abdicated their positions to Mahmoud Abbas officially despite retaining every ounce of control they held before the unification of the Arab Palestinian leadership. They claim they are still waiting for the promised elections, the elections which Abbas will never hold unless he has guarantees that he will retain his position whether deserved or not. Do not be too terribly surprised if President Obama with the backing of the European Union and European governments give Abbas a promise that he will be the only person permitted to run for President of any country if he would only reach an agreement and that write in votes will not be considered valid and still he would fear losing. Abbas, with good reason, has become a quivering mass of righteous paranoia which is fully justified after the executions carried out by Hamas at the end of Operation Protective Edge were largely actions utilized on without actual charges or trial simply going from arrest to execution with great efficiency ridding Gaza of numerous opponents and especially members of Fatah or other entities which might have loyalty to Abbas. Mahmoud Abbas got another dose of reality when a diplomatic team was dispatched to Gaza with the intended assignment to gather the name of the Hamas employees who had yet to be included on the paymaster’s roles and thus had not been receiving their paychecks and were less than thrilled over this situation but the team felt so under threat that they cut short their five day assignment after less than twenty-four hours and they never took a step out of their highly guarded hotel suite except to beat a hasty retreat to Ramallah without getting a single name of those Hamas employees. This might seem senseless that Hamas and Islamic Jihad would prevent the Arab Palestinian Authority to garner the names of their own people so they could be included on the payrolls and receive their wages but the reality is Hamas and Islamic Jihad are pushing for the Arab Palestinian Authority to collapse so they can pick up the pieces and be able to force the Europeans to deal through them and thus remove them from any terrorist roles and grant them political power and acceptance as the new chiefs for Israel to reach compromises and eventually reach a peace agreement. This would not be a huge step for most of Europe’s governments and political bodies and NGOs have, unofficially if not outright, removed Hamas from their terror roles and some even Islamic Jihad while the United Nations is set to recognize and legitimize the Palestinian Rights Center (PRC) which is a front group through which Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood operate and granting them full NGO status and all the legitimization which goes along with such. An extensive report on the PRC the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center released concludes that the group is closely affiliated with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood as well that several of its members are terrorists who have fled to Great Britain. Such recognition would confer “full access to UN facilities and participation in debates in New York, Geneva, and Vienna, and, perhaps most significantly, global legitimacy,” as well as all other benefits which are granted with being awarded “official UN badges.”

 

Before one starts to believe that things could not become even more bleak, there are a number of other developments which are peeking just over the horizon. Perhaps the more sinister and having the most dire long range ramifications is the threat to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Imagine a threat to Hamas and Islamic Jihad making the identical claim of being weak willed and not faithful or sufficiently devout in their manner and representation of Allah and having diverted from the true path. This challenge has been made by the only groups who might be believable when accusing Hamas and Islamic Jihad of temerity in purpose and inadequate devotion to the cause of Sharia and furthering Islam, ISIS. We have all likely seen reports which claim that ISIS has made inroads in the Sinai Peninsula and were taking control of much of the area closest to the Israeli border and ignored the fact that such positioning also brought ISIS close to the Egyptian border with Gaza and the heart of Hamas and Islamic Jihad power bases. This places ISIS in the perfect position to infiltrate Gaza in small numbers which would fairly soon become sufficient numbers to cause Hamas and Islamic Jihad great amounts of difficulty if not topple them both absorbing those who showed sufficient zeal for the ISIS cause while dispatching the leadership and others found wanting in spirit or purity mostly be depositing their bodies and heads separately. This might place Israel directly in the ISIS crosshairs or perhaps this would simply be the first stage to taking over the entirety of the Arab Palestinian cause and also making inroads to supplant the Arab Palestinian Authority including Mahmoud Abbas and also finding all of Fatah and PLO members to be wanting in their devotion and dedication to Sharia and Allah as these groups are nationalist secular or mildly Islamic and nowhere near the levels of self-proclaimed devotion and purity of spirit shown by ISIS, by their own proclamations, of course.

 

Such a turn of events would place Israel in a heavily compromised position, or that is what one would believe. What needs to remain in our consideration of the likelihood that ISIS would take control in Ramallah and replace Fatah, the PLO and the Arab Palestinian Authority are forgetting that the IDF and Shin-Bet operate an advanced and capable intelligence gathering network which was evident when preventing a Hamas coup through a general uprising such that in the confusion they could readily replace Mahmoud Abbas by whatever means were required and replacing the entirety of Fatah and the PLO from the upper echelons of the Arab Palestinian Authority. One could rightfully assume that any inroads made by ISIS would also cross the paths of the Israeli intelligence gathering infrastructure and their moves would be carefully monitored until the most critical moment and just before they struck their targets they would find themselves being welcomed to the Israel direct information gathering committee which operates from places unmentioned where discreet methods are employed to extract and glean any pertinent and necessary information which might have ramifications for Israel. ISIS taking the place of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza would not be in the better interests of Israel but there would appear to be little which could be done unless the Egyptians cared to assist in preventing such an event. The problem with this is that Egypt has just as much distaste for Hamas as it does ISIS and thus they may not care which evil takes its place in Gaza. All would come down to what the value of the people in Gaza had as far as Egypt is concerned. Where one might not see the connection immediately, allow us to give a hint on the one overriding reason which may give Egypt reason to act; there are numerous families who have Egyptian backgrounds and originated in Egypt and have large and numerous extended families who remain in Egypt and we all know how important clan ties can be, especially when members of one’s tribal group or even more severe, one’s relative from their clan faces an existential threat such as ISIS, the pressure placed on the government because of such ties could be overwhelming and Egyptian President Sisi may see the situation as an unavoidable necessity to intervene. The next question is whether President Sisi might request, through back channels and discreetly of course, for any assistance and intelligence Israel might desire to provide, especially to further the two nations’ unofficial relations and to have a card to play in the future. The truth is that it would be a dangerous development to have ISIS take a foothold anywhere in the region and their presence in the Sinai Peninsula must be unnerving for President Sisi and a concern for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Sometimes necessity makes for the strangest bedfellows and this is even more the case in the Middle East. Who would believe that Turkey and Saudi Arabia would be working together in Syria while at the same time as Saudi Arabia is working with Egypt in Yemen and Egypt with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States would be working with a silent partner in Israel against Iran who is working with Iraq, southern Iraq, Syria, less and less of Syria daily, and Hezballah in Lebanon as well as securing a naval port for the Russians with an assist likely to be provided by Hezballah. Iran will also need to protect as much of the Alawite areas as necessary which will require transferring some of the IRGC assisting against ISIS in Iraq and station them to fight ISIS in the areas Iran deems of military value, such as the roads from Damascus into the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon where Hezballah keeps many of its rockets stored.

 

Hezballah brings us to the final subject. This coming week, and even if this is a secret presently it will be fully evidenced as the week unfolds, Israel is running a full participation, country-wide defense in case of war scenario. This will include Israelis entering their shelters as if under rocket attack and every other contingency. The common prospect behind this according to some postulations is to ready the public for a potential conflict with Hamas and Islamic Jihad this summer. Close but no cigar. The real threat will be Hezballah who will need to make large points with the Lebanese after placing them in peril of attack by ISIS. The reasoning goes beyond just satiating the Lebanese hunger for another war with Israel as the last one proved to be so much fun, but Hezballah also will need to make headlines across the Western World which will supercede any news off of the front pages as Iran takes whatever steps are required in Syria to get Assad out and to solidify those areas which Iran considers vital for their desire which include an operative airport in Damascus through which to supply Hezballah, a safe port for the Russians to utilize in the Mediterranean Sea which is Latakia, Syria. And finally they also would desire to retain some of the natural resources such as mining operations and also have a staging area with direct access to the Golan Heights for wither Hezballah to utilize for an assault on Israel or for the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps or Pasdaran Persian: سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی) to have a launch facility to strike Israel or even to assault the Golan Heights. This all means that Iran will require another Hezballah war with Israel to divert attentions from their actions, which will be ruthless and potentially cataclysmic as well as to divert attention from the Iranian dash to produce a number of nuclear warheads and the final preparations for their launch at select targets. Thus Iran will require approximately six to ten weeks of conflict. With the known supplies of rockets and a fair number of larger missiles provided by Iran, Hezballah would be capable of launching over a thousand rockets daily for the entire six weeks and approximately eight-hundred rockets launched daily for ten weeks. Should any higher quantity be required they would need to utilize any Syrian rockets remaining under Iranian control or for Iran to provide a fair number of additional rockets which is why Iran requires the Damascus airport as they are unable to resupply Hezballah through Beirut probably because the Bekaa Valley lies along the Syrian border and the Alawite areas, how convenient. This leaves one with a serious question, what will be the Israeli reaction to a war with Hezballah. As Hamas has also threatened a confrontation this summer with Israel, it is entirely plausible that Israel will desire to keep any confrontation from escalating and to decisively end the conflict leaving little doubt as to who won. Thus any confrontation between Israel and Hezballah will result in Israel striking hard and fast swallowing up the lands south of the Litany River and then sweeping up the eastern banks of the Litani River through the heart of the Bekaa Valley taking out the training grounds, provisions, reserves and bases Hezballah has throughout that region. Any violence from Hamas should also be responded to with great prejudice and force of arms with nothing held back. With the growing challenges and rising threats throughout the areas of the Middle East, Northern Africa and the Horn of Africa, it is starting to appear that the whole area has lost their minds, possibly the whole world even. Then there is the continuing threat with Russia menacingly eying the old regions of her power before the fall of the Soviet Union and China literally building new islands and placing oil rigs and military airbases and other facilities in the South China Sea in order to widen her area of control and claim islands which are also claimed by her neighbors but China is the eight-hundred pound gorilla who can basically do whatever she desires unless the United States takes a stand against her, and that is seeming less and less a possibility as the islands grow. Furthermore, most of Europe is also looking at civil unrest in the near future as the growing immigrant population feels stronger and denied an equal opportunity to get a job and live an equal life. Add that they also desire to start a religious war forcing their religion on those they views as a people who have forsaken religion. Then there is violence threatening to break out full force both on the United States college campuses during the anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic and anti-America demonstrations and potentially within many cities possibly escalating and spilling throughout the city, especially if the police are restrained and ill–equipped as was the case in Baltimore and has had continuing ramifications, especially in western Baltimore where the police have basically been chased from the streets. Similar situations are possible throughout the country, especially in the twelve largest cities. One would be hard pressed to find an area on the globe where there are no threats.

 

Even Kathmandu is still recovering from the series of earthquakes which struck there not that long ago. Will Shangri-La be next? Just because it is mythical might not except even Shangri-La from the ravages of societies gone mad. Maybe only the quiet places in our minds where we can concentrate on the peace and love in our hearts can the world be healed as we heal one soul at a time. But with the Churches, Synagogues, Temples and other religious houses all nearly empty even on the holiest of days, what hope will the world have against true and fanatical believers, especially those who cannot be tempted with baubles and glitter that shines at us in every store window beckoning us to worship consumerism. The hectic pace of modern life with so little time that one simply must collapse for those brief moments between the scheduled meeting, workout, night-school, and the children’s activities. Who has time for anything more? But unless we take the time to refresh our consciences and recharge our moral compasses society will continue spinning further and further out of control. What is it we seek with our frenetic paced lives; do we even know any more? Listen to the quiet little voice in the back recesses of your mind, it is still there, trust me. It will tell you secrets that you once knew but soon got squeezed from your life. I know the crippling schedule for those working two jobs, both full-time. The requirement that you take some time to recharge yourself does not disappear just because, it remains and eventually it will come screaming to the fore and demand you stop and take a deep breath. Sigh in from the mouth and let it out so slowly from the nostrils that you barely tickle the air. Again only deeper and with a more measured exhale. This is the easiest way to slow your pace and make you see reason. After you have done this at the end of each day or at lunch or whenever you can schedule your take a breath for sanity, then that voice can finally be heard and its message is simple, you know not every answer. Sure the news and science and everything you read tells how there is so little left that science does not know that is the lie told to make you forget. The little voice remembers and knows the bliss one can feel when we know that there is reason and value in life. Whatever manner of faith you are comfortable in, that is possibly just the recharging you need. It is just once or twice a week unless you desire more once you return and feel the encompassing warmth, love, acceptance, understanding and all those emotions and assurances which were missing in your life, there is a place where they can be found. We all want the world to be a better place but we seem lost in figuring out how. All each of us can do is our own part. Own, a strange word as it is in this case where it has so much meaning. There is our own part; the part assigned us even if that assignment comes from within us. There is the part in the world we own, we are responsible for and we get to structure it just how we desire others to know our part. Part from the business of life and take a moment with which we part from the fast paced caffeinated life and take a lemonade break on a hot day and you can part from the world and just enjoy the moment. We can take part in displaying that we have found the answer and then you can play the part which you know is what is really important. But the most important part is when you realize that the only real thing you can do to repair society and the world is make your little area, your part clean, warm and with its own sparkle and once you have done your part, then you can invite others to slow down and remember that they too can have a part in the world which they can be proud of and eventually the individual parts reach a point where they can change one small part of the world and from there who knows what they can part, maybe the Red Sea and again we can cross and be received. Just remember that the more we learn about the world the more we often realize how little we know, it is as if each answer spawns ten questions, and that’s what keeps scientists employed.

 

Beyond the Cusp