Syrian War Winner and Losers

 

The Syrian war is about to finally enter its terminal stage. This is not something to be celebrated as there is only one winner and a ton of losers. Without any doubt the largest losers are the Syrian people who now have no country. Syria will be a nation in ruin for as far as the mind can see. Once the Assad government final is completely destroyed and the Alawites have paid the price for the Assad families’ decades of ruthless leadership where millions died just because the Assad family feared they might turn against their governing, then the Syrian fighting will simply be every factions, tribe and even clan contesting land until eternity. The war will rage on ravaging what is already a nation in ruin even further down the scale of civil rule. It is highly likely that Syria will never emerge from the ashes and the Syrian people will inherit a nation at war with itself with no relief from the horrors similarly to what is still ravaging Libya long after their dictator paid the price for his savagery. Bashir al-Assad will probably be more fortunate as he will probably take refuge in Iran, Russia or somewhere in Europe where he and his family will live quietly and under an assumed identity spending what is likely to be billions of Euros they have stashed in numbered Swiss accounts. Some might see this as their having come out as winning but they will also be living that life or relative luxury constantly looking over their shoulder checking for an inevitable assassination of Bashir al-Assad if not a slaughter of his entire family some night when something went bump in the night and their house was transformed into their tomb.

 

There will be numerous leaders of different factions of the groups fighting against Assad who will claim to have won and may even spend a few hours in celebration of the final end of Assad family rule before the next stage of the fighting begins to determine who will be the final winner. Unfortunately for the people of the Arab and soon greater Muslim worlds, when the entirety becomes a contest to determine who gets to form the next Caliphate then everyone loses as the fighting envelops a larger and larger area with numerous factions fighting against each other and eventually factions melding to be stronger and fighting to be the final victor as there can be only one Caliph and soon there may be countless contesters for that throne. This fighting promises to eventually cut the Muslim world into large factions with regular breaking down between allies just making the fighting even more destructive. The initial fighting will continue across Syria, Libya and Iraq for the foreseeable future with a few contesters being the forces to watch. The most obvious element is ISIS which claims to have their tentacles reaching across the different areas where fighting is active, even in Yemen. The news has reported of ISIS factions beheading some twenty Egyptian Coptic Christians which garnered them some attention from Egypt which carried out a series of airstrikes. This provides the simple truth of what it will take for ISIS to actually be capable of successfully claiming the leadership and establishing the next Caliphate, air-power. So far ISIS has not given even a tentative sign that they have any air capabilities. There was mention after ISIS captured an airbase in Syria of their intending to train pilots for the establishing of an ISIS air force. They managed to get a few jets into the sky which were immediately shot down by actual fighters from the Syrian Air Force. The next step was the destruction of every aircraft on the ground by two or three days of airstrikes rendering the airfield useless and destroying every aircraft they could target. So much for an ISIS air force.

 

ISIS will be a terrorist organization, though a powerful one for now, until they somehow manage to garner air-power in the form of aircraft and fully trained pilots to fly them. There will be only one way for this to occur, and that would be for a number of flight squadrons to take to the air and land on an airstrip already within ISIS controlled area bringing as much weaponry for their aircraft as they are able to carry. If such defections are well planned before their execution these pilots and some ground crews for servicing their aircraft, as such will be vital, will also have some cargo aircraft loaded with munitions, spare parts and everything necessary to sustain an active air force no matter how small. Obviously this would require either an entire nation’s air crews or a number of squadrons following suit in rapid succession thus forming not only the beginning core of an air force but instead a complete and functioning air force capable of defending their airfields as well as providing ground support and other missions. Anything less and ISIS will remain a terrorist group even if a powerful terrorist entity, but not yet the nation or even contender for the title of Caliphate. So, who are the real qualifiers for the title of leaders of the Caliphate?

 

Unfortunately ISIS is still the number one contender as they have the appearance as the strong horse with the plans and the fire to get the Caliphate started and lead the fighting forces to eventual victory and the unification of the entirety of the Ummah (Arabic: أمة‎‎). As pointed out, if ISIS is to eventually prove the leadership of the new Caliphate they will require a real air force which has thus far eluded them. That leads us to the more obvious candidates but first let’s list some of the non-state actors who will eventually play a role in the determining the next Caliphate. The first one to come to mind is the father of so many of the Arab and Islamist terrorist and non-state actors across the expanse of the Muslim world, the Muslim Brotherhood. Another entity with the structures in place for making a claim is al-Qaeda. A third would have to be the Taliban though their reach is limited; they do have well trained fighters who are highly motivated. Despite the Muslim Brotherhood, Taliban and al-Qaeda having extensive ties and supporters, they have the same problems as does ISIS, no air power. For this reason, none of these groups have much of a chance of defeating an actual state whose military is well formed and capable of fighting a modern war against what would have to be viewed as a terrorist entity in the eyes of the national leadership and armed forces. The main duty beyond holding the line against the terror entity would be keeping control through the ranks, especially the air force, to prevent defections to the other side, something which occurred with some of the Sunni military and security forces in Iraq and Syria. There were even a few pilots who defected over to ISIS but not in sufficient numbers to even form a single squadron of fighter air corps.

 

There are currently four nations which might be considered capable of eventually forming the next Caliphate if such is what is fated. These are in no particular order, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt. A fifth possible nation would have to be Pakistan if for no other reason than their being a nuclear armed nation. The nations who currently are allied in the fight against the Iranian proxy Houthis fighting for control of Yemen and most importantly, the Bab-el-Mandeb narrows at the southern end of the Red Sea and controlling access from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden and onto the Arabian Sea and beyond, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. This is a perfect alliance as Saudi Arabia has the oil wealth while Egypt has a strong, well-armed and well-trained military which has proven their unity and discipline over the trying period of two changes in governance over the past three years which the military retained its ranks and officer corps and structure throughout. The greatest threat to the Saudi-Egyptian alliance is obviously Iran which could become favored to gain the upper hand in this contest once they attain their own production of nuclear weapons, a structure that is greatly formed already and presumably not producing such weapons due to their negotiating with the P5+1 and possibly fearing actions by the United States should they actually proceed and build a nuclear weapons stockpile. This likely means that Iran is doing exactly that, as they have no respect, let alone fear, of any threat the United States might currently make. Once it becomes obvious that Iran has produced nuclear weapons, it is expected and been confirmed unofficially that Saudi Arabia will be exercising their agreement to purchase, most likely at wholesale, a dozen, or a few dozen, nuclear devices and the delivery system to go with them in the case they are warheads rather than bombs. This would allow for the Saudis to develop, which means build the facilities, their own nuclear program. The Saudi Arabian scientists and necessary technicians are already trained and ready to take up the challenge of producing nuclear weapons as they have received such plans from Pakistan in exchange for their subsidizing the Pakistani drive to produce their own nuclear weapons in response to India having done so. The Saudi access to nuclear weapons production will serve to perpetuate into perpetuity the alliance between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

 

With the establishment of an alliance between Saudi Arabia and Egypt one side and Iran and whatever remnants of Iraq, Syria and probably Lebanon as ISIS and the other rebel groups who will have brought down Bashir al-Assad will still have numerous scores to settle with Hezballah which any international borders will not be capable of standing in the way preventing this vengeance from being extracted. The above alliance leaves such powers as Turkey and Pakistan on the outside in the cold, so to speak. Pakistan is most likely to remain on the outside simply observing as a mostly disinterested spectator who if forced to choose would most likely ally with the Saudis and company as they have had a mutually advantageous relationship over the decades, despite Pakistan receiving much of their oil from Iran, it is likely that the Saudis could take care of any need in that area. That leaves Turkey to figure on which direction they are most likely to take. The direction Turkey would take depends on who is in power. Currently their leader for as long as most can remember has been Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Should Erdogan remain in power, which way he would choose would be in question. President Erdogan has over the years shown to side with the Iranians, Saudis and even Egypt alternately. Currently there is a significant rift between Turkey and Egypt over the ouster of President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood governance and replacing it with the chosen General of the Army President Sisi. The Turkish government, which is to say Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has held fast demanding that President Sisi step down as President and place Morsi back on his Presidential pedestal along with the entirety of the Muslim Brotherhood government the last elections replaced. As doing so would most definitely lead to the loss of the lives of most of the upper echelons of the Egyptian military, this scenario is highly unlikely. If sentences are to be carried out swiftly there may no longer be a former President Morsi to return to the position as he and hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood leaders have been sentenced to death recently by the Egyptian courts. Meanwhile, Erdogan has alternately shown affinity for Iran though currently has remained surprisingly neutral and silent reserving his vitriol for Israel, always the default position one can take to insulate themselves from outside harms. Determining which direction Turkey might take under Erdogan is a guessing game and probably will remain that way until one side or the other proves the victor and then Erdogan would ingratiate himself to the victor. If he were to choose, he appears to favor Iran possibly due to their presence in Syria and thus along his southern border. Without Erdogan Turkey would naturally side with Saudi Arabia and Egypt as they would no longer be seen as supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

The question as to which side would prove victorious between a Saudi Arabian led coalition or Iran is a tougher call. It might all depend on which side was willing to use their ultimate weapon with sufficient deployment so as to end the ability of the other side to resist. Where I have some doubts that the Saudis would be the first to use nuclear weapons in the Middle East, I have no doubts that such would be the primary first strike or response to hostilities in order to simply end any contest and declare their victory. Should such an event ever be presented to the world, their answer should be carefully decided and decisively delivered. Should Iran use nuclear weapons against her adversaries on the Middle East and willingly bring such devastation to fellow Muslims, even if they were predominantly Sunni and not Shiite, then the rest of the world had best believe they would receive nothing less. Should Iran launch such a barrage, it would be surprising if they did not at the same time launch attacks by multiple means on Europe and the United States as well as any other nation they might perceive to be capable of mounting a credible resistance to their eventual world-wide victory. But even Iran does not appear to be quite that ruthless or willing to wreak such devastation on such a scale.

 

Should they prove to be that hardhearted and coldblooded as to end civilization as we know it, then it would prove a suspicion I had way back when a cursory review of the predictions of Nostradamus was in vogue and fascinated one youth after viewing a special on television where they gave lengthy coverage to his future vision of the world falling to a man from the Middle East wearing a blue turban. Despite every publication and prediction claiming that this meant Iraq I held stubbornly to my feelings that it signified Iran, and I do mean stubbornly. Often I was dismissed as a lost cause incapable of listening to reason but I had my faith that Persia would rise again and not Babylonia. Historically the Babylonians surrendered to the Persians almost joyously as their ruler had lost his mind after burning three Israelites (Jews) for not bowing before him and they somehow proved to be fireproof, well, at least for that moment as they cried out to G0d and were saved from a fiery death. This proved a bit much for the mind of King Nebuchadnezzar II who lost his mind unable to believe or understand that such a miracle was possible and that he was not the most powerful even in his own kingdom, his capital city even.

 

As is often the case, the eventual end to this will entail a fair degree of insanity, a touch of the impossible, room for a number of miracles, even more so should Israel somehow become involved. Perhaps this might be the place to end with a final word on the probable path Hezballah may be about to tread. Once the remaining forces, the few, the perplexed, the Syrian remnants; then Hezballah will find themselves pretty much alone as the IRGC forces will stake out a radius around Damascus and wherever else they determine is vital to Iran such as the port where the Russian fleet is docked, Latakia, and perhaps a few places in Lebanon as well. Should Iranian plans not include providing safety for the last remnants of the Syrian military, they certainly will not be protecting Hezballah. The Iranians may well understand that should they not side with the remnants of the defenders of Assad that their retaining the choice areas they believe essential to their requirements will be more readily accepted and produce minimal resistance. That leaves Hezballah pretty much out in the cold and in need of some reinforcement to their devotion to Allah and commitment to the perpetual cause, the eradication of the Zionist entity, Israel. The end result will be the same and Hezballah should prove to be better served for survival by fighting Israel than fighting ISIS. It needs to be remembered that Hezballah, just like ISIS, has no air force. This deficiency will prove fatal for them in either battle, against Israel it is obvious, they will have little recourse against Israeli air power, and against ISIS it places them on an even playing field with ISIS currently being the more motivated and Hezballah having superior training and better knowledge of the terrain as well as having heavily fortified bunker and tunnel system in southern Lebanon, their home turf. Either path will probably be the final battles Hezballah will ever engage in. Even should they start a war with Israel, that does not necessarily rule out a final settling of grievances with ISIS, it would just mean that final reckoning coming after Israel had smashed their bunkers and tunnels and decimated their rocket and other heavy weaponry. Anyway one slices it, there is a better than average probability that we will have seen the last of Hezballah by Summer’s end. That may be the cherry atop the ice cream Sunday and a gift to the civilized world out of the ashes of Syria.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Examination of Turkish Prime Minister’s Response to Paris Events

 

Turkey Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made some interesting comments in reference to the Paris Rally to memorialize the freedoms of thought and expressions and the liberties and freedoms which form much of the basis for Western establishments and for which Islamic radical terrorists assaulted and murdered the staff of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which a dozen people paid for such freedoms and liberties with their lives. So, let us first give some of the relative quotes from Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made on the rally and its themes where he stated, “It is a message to the whole world that everyone must confront the threat of terror.” So far, so good. He continued, “We would expect the same sensitivities to be shown to attacks on mosque or Islamophobia.” We can agree completely on the expectations that should a similar assault be perpetrated on a Mosque that this would be an act of terrorism and equally contemptible and demand the same reaction as against the attackers of the magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices. As far as the “Islamophobia” we would require a definition but probably would depend on the form of such “Islamophobia” took, if it were nonviolent then things start to come under the reasons the Charlie Hebdo’s offices were attacked. Moving on he was quoted, “Turkey’s stance is principled and we will keep up this attitude. Turkey has the same values around the world as far as terror is concerned. There can be no double standards.” Yes, this might be agreeable depending on your definition of terror which is coming next I would expect. The Prime Minister obliged when he pointed to “state terrorism” against the Palestinians and in Syria. One can only assume that Prime Minister Davutoglu was referring to the recent comments made by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments which slammed Europeans criticizing of Turkish assaults on media outlets which signaled deteriorating press freedoms which in a Reuters report having indicated his saying they should instead try to find a solution for the increasing Islamophobia in Europe. President Erdogan has been quoted stating, “We are not Europe’s scapegoat. We are definitely not a country that Europe can point its finger at and scold. Instead of criticizing us, Europe should find a solution to increasing racism and Islamophobia.” As an example of such horrific crimes which were obvious Islamophobic in their origin he cited the German city of Dormagen, where ultra-nationalists drew Nazi signs on the walls of a mosque which was under construction.

 

The common theme here is the reference to “Islamophobia” and its being of racist origins which perhaps should be further investigated and include in that the reference to “state terrorism” against the Palestinians and in Syria. The easiest target is that Islamophobia is racist. What race is Islamophobia targeting? It cannot be Arabs as there are Arab Druze, Arab Jews, Arab Christians, Arab Hindus, Arab Buddhists, Arab Zaidi, Arab Zoroastrianians and undoubtedly other religions, so Islamophobia is not against Arabs due to Arabs practicing only Islam. If we look at Islam itself there are many differing peoples who practice Islam including people of Turkish backgrounds which are separate from Arabs thus Islamophobia cannot be considered racism accurately, but for argument’s sake we will equate it with racism. Granted, the example given by President Erdogan of painted Nazi symbols on the sides of a Mosque under construction is contemptible and those who perpetrated such a crime, and that would be a crime in the West, should be found and arrested for trial. The crime would be defacing private property and the case would revolve around personal ownership and the defacing their property and not as Islamophobic. So we agree such an act is a crime just not a crime because it was a Mosque but because it was private property. We would treat such crimes equally had they painted the symbols on a church, synagogue or a bookstore or tailors’ shop. So we agree on the act being of criminal intent but we differ on the crime itself, we see it as defacing property and they see it as a crime against Islam and that being the ultimate offense.

 

Finally, the reference to “state terrorism” against the “Palestinians and in Syria” is the manner of condemning Israel when utilized by Turkish officials as well as their allies in Iran and Hezballah. Turkey is the nation which claims that the attempt by IHH to use a flotilla around the Mavi Marmara to break the legally recognized Gaza blockade and the subsequent confrontation with Israeli troops as an Israeli aggression on the world and particularly an offense against Turkey gives a reference to the lack of objectivity on all items concerning Israel. Where does Israel fit in the reference to “state terrorism” against the “Palestinians and in Syria” come in? Turkey has claimed numerous times that Israel is backing Syrian Dictator Bashir al-Assad with intelligence information and other tactical intelligence as well as interventions by Israeli fighter aircraft. That is where Turkey pretends that Israel is involved while Turkey has always claimed that Israel is oppressing the Palestinians Arabs and is an Apartheid State despite every piece of evidence countering such accusations. I do not blame Turkey alone for many of these accusations as they are made by numerous peoples from all points on the planet, which does not necessarily make the accusations valid. These references are simply Turkish politicians and spokespeople’s way of bringing Israel into the discussion as to them doing so simply makes their claims valid and beyond reproach. Unfortunately for the all it does is reinforce the fact that their claims may lie in their foremost delusions which taint virtually every action they take both diplomatically around the world and domestically within their borders. My bet is if one were to give the Turkish government proof that Charlie Hebdo magazine had also been satirical about other religions and gave them examples of Charlie Hebdo cartoons spoofing and criticizing Christianity and Judaism that they would use the cartoons on Judaism and Israel in their own publications, that is the length of their hypocrisy and depravity when it comes to everything Israel. What makes this even more ludicrous is when considering that Turkey is a member of NATO (why is beyond our wildest imaginations) and are technically supporting the West against ISIS (pronounced is-is as in the Bill Clinton famous quote, it all depends on what the meaning of is is) while simultaneously allowing weapons, terrorists, troops and other support to cross into Syria in support of ISIS, duplicity is thy name Turkey.

 

From both men’s statements I can only gather that they believe that Islam deserves, or demands, a special treatment against any and all negative references or comments and this preference should be applied solely to Islam and not to other religions. This brings us to the main point of contention, namely that Islam is a special religion which must be protected as more sacred than any other religion and that Islam must be protected from all negative references while those practicing Islam must receive special considerations, especially if their actions were against infidels or protecting the name of Islam against the unbelievers. Well, if one believes in freedom of religion or even to have no religion, then not exactly my Turkish friends, I may call you friends or does my being an infidel make such impossible. When President Erdogan references that Turkey would apply the same rules the world over he is not professing equality as what he is applying is Islamic supremacy the world over and Islamic law the world over and not equality of any manner. President Erdogan would be applying the same applications the world over much in the same way that the Communists desired to apply the same rules and were consistent the world over or the way the Mongols attempted to apply the same rules the world over or the Romans or Greeks before them. Conquering the world for Allah is not spreading freedom in any way shape or form. Unfortunately we cannot honestly agree that Islamophobia is a crime provided that one simply objects to Islam in a nonviolent and nondestructive manner and their objections to Islam are carried out without breaking the law or another person’s right to practice Islam in a peaceable manner. Islam should be accorded the exact same protection as is any other religion or philosophy. Plainly put, Islam is not above any or all other religions, it must be equal in how it is treated to the treatment of all other religions, period.

 

Then there was one additional comment which quoted French President Francois Hollande’s statement that “these fanatics (Said Kouachi, Cherif Kouachi, Hamyd Mourad, and Amedy Coulibaly) have nothing to do with Muslim religion” and according to Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that is of “utmost importance”. I must report to the honorable Prime Minister of Turkey as well as to all those other Imams, rulers of Islamic countries and other misguided Western leaders including those making such statements from my own country that the fact that these miscreants acted violently in the name of Islam is of the “utmost importance” and no amount of denials can alter that fact. Their claims of having “avenged the Prophet” referencing their Prophet Mohammad; and their cries of “Allahu Akbar” were references to Allah as the greatest of gods were most definitely directly related to how these individuals interpreted and understood Islam and is exactly how they were taught Islam is supposed to act to such offenses as were committed by the writers and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo. To claim that these criminals were not committing their crimes in the name of Islam and that Islam never condones acts of violence would be to claim that the professing and statements of Imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi are not of Islam when he calls for the killing or eradication of Jews and the bringing of the whole world under Islam by persuasion or by the sword are not professing the tenets of Islam. J’accuse, I accuse you, Prime Minister Davutoglu and President Erdogan, of practicing Taqiyya, practicing dissimulation, lying, deceiving, vexing and confounding with the intention of deflecting attention, foiling, pre-emptively blocking or fending off and neutralizing any criticism of Islam or Muslims.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

A Look at the Future for the Jews and Christians of Europe

There have been numerous studies and commentaries pertaining to the rising anti-Semitism in much of Europe. There have also been eulogies for the Christian and Catholic Churches in Europe and often mentions of another church or cathedral being put up for sale and often being transformed into Mosques. This transformation mirrors the events in the Middle East, Northern Africa, Spain, Turkey and other locations where Islam spread during their periods of expansion as they conquered these lands and transformed them from Christian nations into Muslim majorities and dwindling Christian presence. Similar such occurrences are currently being witnessed in Egypt with the Coptic Christians, the Christians of Lebanon and the Christians of Bethlehem under Palestinian autonomy. The story is often told about the empty pews of the churches throughout most of Europe and the advance of secular statist humanism where the human is worshiped as the ultimate pinnacle of creation and the State is seen as the end all and arbiter of rights, privileges and petition which is nothing more than another variation of worship. The Christians have yet to face the animus which is being felt by the Jews in Europe.

That is where a recent survey taken of European Jews reveals the extent of the discomfort, one could say persecution, felt by the majority of Jews in Europe. Some of the statistics from the survey found that sixty-six percent of European Jews considered anti-Semitism “a fairly big or very big” problem in their country; seventy-six percent said anti-Semitism had worsened in the past five years, with abuse especially prevalent on the Internet with it particularly present in social media, especially where aliases hide the perpetrator’s real name; France, Belgium and Hungary reported the highest rates of anti-Semitism in the media and political life, as well vandalism and open hostility in public; twenty-one percent of people said they had experienced verbal or physical abuse in the last year for being Jewish; almost half feared experiencing public insults or harassment in the next year, with as close to twenty-three percent saying they purposely avoided Jewish sites or celebrations as they might not be safe; eighty-two percent of people did not report abuse or discrimination they had experienced to the authorities feeling it would be useless as nothing would be fully investigated and it would have no real effect on their situations; large number of European Jews are considering leaving because of the persecution they experience in the countries; the belief was found to be valid that a clear link between the demonization of Israel and attacks on Jews in Europe exists; sixty-eight percent of the Jews reported they have avoided appearing identifiably Jewish in public for fear of attack or harassment; eighty-two percent of those surveyed say they have heard Israelis being likened with Nazis; many of those respondents who had witnessed anti-Semitism saying that it had come from the Left with fifty-seven percent of those in Britain, sixty-two percent of those in Italy and sixty-seven percent of those in France said they had heard anti-Semitism from someone on the Left; racism against Jews from the Muslim community was reported by fifty-one percent of Jews in Sweden, fifty-six percent of Jews in Britain and seventy-three percent of Jews in France; and thirty-one percent of Jews had either considered or attempted emigration specifically as a result of anti-Semitism, while in France the figure is just below half.

Between these numbers and the known high rate of assimilated Jews who no longer practice their religion and the high rate of intermarriage, it is very likely that the end of a Jewish presence beyond some small communities of Orthodox and Hassidic Jews will remain in Europe by the middle of this century and certainly by its end. The truly frightening revelation is that the Jews in the United States are following this very trend, though with far less prevalence of the anti-Semitism, and outside the very religious communities the numbers of practicing and Shabbat Synagogue attending Jews is rapidly dwindling where these communities may soon also disappear. The one thing that might change these trends and force many Jews back to their faith is the rise of anti-Semitism, oddly enough. Should it become systemic and be enacted into law, something which has already begun in Europe with the bans on Kosher slaughter (Shechita) as well as bans on Circumcision, two basic tenets of the Jewish faith, the Jews might, as has occurred numerous times in their history, return to their religion and reestablish close communities living as separate from the mainstreams of society and eventually relocating most likely to Israel. Some might claim that this is exactly what was predicted would occur once the Jewish State was reestablished and that all of this is simply coming to fruition of the ingathering of the Jews to Eretz Yisroel. They would also point to the return by the Ethiopian Jewish community, the Bnei Menashe Jews from India and the Yemeni Jews to Israel in the recent past and still continuing in the present and many expect that more of the lost tribes from the northern kingdom of Israel (also called Samaria) will be found and brought home as well as the rest of the Jews from the southern kingdom of Judah. That is an area where I must depart as such events are beyond the reach or control of mortal humans and as such must simply be hoped for and attempt to assist where and when able but not to the point of believing that our actions can produce such results, that is decided in another dominion.

Beyond the Cusp